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Colonial i^istorp 

Colonial 
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An Outline 

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' irC5/?^W0RKSgrC0L 

PAUL REVERE 









-■ 1 



'S'H/NGTON. U.5I 



With a Partial Catalogue 
o/SiLVERWA RE Bearin g His Name 

TOWLE Mf^G COMPANY 

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NEWBURYPORT ,„.-„ MASSACHUSETTS 




STERLING 




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Copyrighted 1901 by The Towle Mfg Company 



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HROUGH Longfellow we have heard of "the midnight 
ride of Paul Revere," and a few cherished pieces of silver- 
ware bearing his mark have reminded us of his trade; but 
we have been slow to realize the remarkable abilities and 
attainments of this ardent patriot, and the extent and 
importance of the services he rendered in the cause of 
liberty previous and subsequent to his memorable ride. i773 
His origin and life are fitter for romance than bald biog- 
raphy, and await the writer who shall by mingling art with 
history reproduce the spirit and influence which no mere 
chronicle of his achievements can portray. H is sphere was 
outside that of the great leaders of statecraft and battle, but 
it was none the less effective and indispensable; in the 
emergencies of the early days, before events had shaped the 
policy of union, he was the ready arm to execute the will of 
Hancock, Adams and Warren, and was often as well their 
guide to the temper and resources of the body politic, of 
which he was an undisputed leader. 

Oppression drove his ancestors from their native home 1715 
in France, but the spirit which they bequeathed him was 
idaunted, and under the rugged influences of a new 
country met new oppression with determined resistance, 
is significant of the transition from the French Hugue- 
not refugee to the American citizen that Apollos Rivoire, who was born in France 
in the year 1702, and when thirteen years of age arrived in Boston to be appren- 
ticed to a goldsmith, in his early manhood modified his name to Paul Revere 
to suit the convenience of neighbors whose Saxon tongues but illy rendered the 
subtleties of his patronymic. He was sent here and apprenticed by an uncle who 
had earlier emigrated to Guernsey and whom he had sought on his departure 
from France. His allegiance to his adopted country was completed when in 
1729 as an established goldsmith he married Deborah Hitchborn, a native of 
Boston. They had many children, but it is with the third, the Paul Revere of 
American history, born December twenty-first, 1734, that we are concerned. 
He received his education from the famous Master Tileston at the "North 
Grammar School," and then entered his father's shop to learn ^ ^ — ^"""^^ 
the trade of goldsmith and silversmith. The varied operations «s^ 
of such work, more especially at a time when appliances were , 
few and primitive, developed his mechanical powers, while a 
natural refinement of taste and talent for drawing found a stim- 
ulative exercise in designing and embellishing with the graver "*'■ 




ixin^rhan-um 
el^oston Z 




Ancestry and Early Life 



the product of the shop. His abihties in the latter early led him to practice 
/7<55 copperplate engraving, and it was through this channel that his influence on the 
political life of the time first began to be felt. Pictorial illustration for publication 
in those days was limited to a very few processes. Wood engraving had been 
highly developed by a few great masters, but as commonly practiced was very 
crude and unsatisfactory. Lithography was not yet invented, and so copperplate 
engraving, which we are now accustomed to associate with work of a more luxu- 
rious sort, was the most available means of disseminating the caricatures and 
allegories that always have formed an essential part of an appeal to the judgment 
of the people. Today the execution and publication of such for a great news- 
paper would be a matter of a very few hours; then the plates were slowly and 
laboriously wrought, and the prints as slowly made, but from the very rarity 
thus engendered came a corresponding importance, and to these embodiments 
of patriotic sentiment may be traced much of the enthusiasm for Colonial rights. 
'7 The imposition and repeal of the detested Stamp Act were the subjects of some 
'7''^' of his earliest eflForts in this field, and they achieved an immediate popularity. 
Later his illustration of the " Boston Massacre," March 5, 1770, when the British 
'77'^ troops shot down Crispus Attucks and his companions on King (now State) street, 
proved a valuable document and memorial of that affair, and was even copied and 
issued in England. His early plates, as was to be expected from one wholly 
self-taught in the art, were crude in detail, though expressive and forceful in com- 
position, but his later work often attained a considerable degree of elegance and 
artistic merit. 
'75'^^ The martial spirit that stirred him to such a degree in later life asserted 

itself first on the occasion of the campaign against the French in Canada in 1756, 
and he was at that time commissioned Second Lieutenant of Artillery by Gov- 
ernor Shirley and attached to the expedition against Crown Point under com- 
mand of General John Winslow. His service in this campaign was uneventful, 

ChristChurch Salem Street 




Copperplate Engraving 




^^ulReve^3 




and some six months later he returned to his business. From this time his 1756 
allegiance to royal authority steadily waned. 

The expense of protecting the Colonies from the encroachments of the 
French had been large, and in apportioning a share of this to America the king 
desired also to express the sovereignty of the mother country with a view of 
checking the growing independence of thought that was manifest in certain 
quarters, particularly in Boston. His ministers therefore devised the Stamp 1762 
Act, which, though defeated in Parliament when first offered, was passed in 1765 
and its enforcement immediately attempted. This included a tax upon the ^7^5" 
imports of the Colonies, but its repugnance to the latter lay in the fact that they 
had no voice in the matter, a right which they claimed under the Magna Charta, 
the foundation of English liberty. The resentment engendered by this enact- 
ment operated to widen the breach between Whigs and Tories, as the sympa- 
thizers of the King were called, and the leaders of the former banded themselves 
together under the name of the Sons of Liberty. Their meetings were con- 
ducted with great secrecy, those in Boston being held chiefly at the Green 
Dragon tavern, and measures were taken to resist at every step the impending 
tyranny. 

Paul Revere, popular among his fellows, and esteemed by those whom 
social position and previous services had marked as prime directors, became a 
prominent figure in this movement and was intrusted with the execution of many 
important affairs. Committees of Safety and Correspondence were formed 
throughout the Colonies, and Revere was often the bearer of intelligence and 
instructions from one to another. His chief commissions at this time were to 
carry to New York and Philadelphia the sentiments of Massachusetts, and its 
proposition to unify the action of the country through a Colonial Congress. 
This Congress was held at New York in October of the same year, and adopted 
a Declaration of Rights and Grievances which, together with the protests from 
British merchants and the earnest efforts of William Pitt, caused Parliament to 
repeal the obnoxious Act early in 1766. 1766 



Rob't Newman's W House 









««Sons of Liberty" 




1768 



WKo voted ;?<?//(!? Rescind 



The King, unwilling to renounce his policy of subjection, secured the pas- 
sage of another and somewhat similar Act aimed at American commerce, and 
again the Colonies were excited to resistance and methods devised to defeat its 
provisions. A non-importation league was formed, and many encounters 
occurred between the crown officers, or their sympathizers, and the patriots. 
Paul Revere appears as a leading spirit in these demonstrations, and several of 

1768 them were marked by the publication of engravings. One of these is a caricature 
portraying the entrance into the jaws of hell, typified by a dragon emitting flames, 
of the seventeen members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who 
at the King's behest voted to rescind the Act authorizing the issuance of a cir- 
cular letter to the General Assemblies of the several Colonies inviting co-opera- 
tion in defense of their rights. The ninety-two members who voted not to 
rescind were honored by a memorial in the form of a silver punch bowl made 
by Revere and presented by fifteen Sons of Liberty. He also executed views 
of the landing of British troops at Boston, beside many prints of a more private 

7770 nature, and two years later his representation of the Boston Massacre ; the 

7777 next year, on the anniversary of this encounter, he displayed from the chamber 
windows of his house in North Square a series of transparencies commemorative 
of the aiTair. This house, though somewhat modified, is still standing. 

The discontent bred by the stamp measures of Parliament and nurtured in 

IJ73 the secret societies and caucuses that abounded in Boston burst from these 
bounds on the 29th of November, 1773, with the issuance of a broadside, or 
poster as we would now term it, calling the citizens to meet and take action upon 
the matter. The ship "Dartmouth," laden with tea, had arrived on the 28th, 
and great excitement prevailed. The meeting announced was held and addressed 
by noted patriots, who urged the people to prevent the discharge ot the cargo. 
Samuel Adams offered a resolution "that the tea should not be landed; that it 
should be sent back in the same bottom to the place whence it came, and at all 
events that no duty should be paid on it." This was unanimously adopted, and 
a guard of twenty-five men was appointed to support it. Paul Revere was one 
of this number, and with others watched the ship that night. Another meeting 
was held the next day and the owners of the " Dartmouth " and two other tea 

Pr^-Revolutionary Services 




R^ulReve^J 




Paul Revere's House 



L^WLI 




7 



ships which had arrived were compelled to promise to send them back to I'.ng- 
land without unloading. Governor Hutchinson upset this peaceful solution of 
the matter by forbidding the issuance of clearance papers for the ships until the 
cargoes should be discharged. This further inflamed the citizens, and on the 
1 6th of December another excited gathering was held in the "Old South" 
Meeting House. At the close of this meeting the cry, " Boston Harbor a tea- 
pot tonight," was raised, at which signal a band ot men styling themselves /,-,-;• 
"Mohawks," and largely disguised as such, led the way to Griffin's Wharf, 
boarded the ships, and in an orderly manner burst open three hundred and forty- 
two chests and threw the tea into the waters of the harbor. As usual, Paul Revere 
was one of the instigators and leaders of this — the first act of open rebellion. 
As a result of this action laws were passed in Parliament closing the port 
of Boston and in other ways restricting the liberties of the people of Massa- z,-;^ 
chusetts. Although the purpose of these was to crush the rebellious spirit of 
the Colonists, they served only to further inflame them, and Paul Revere was 
soon riding again to enlist the support of the Southern provinces in behalf of 
Massachusetts. He was enthusiastically received in New York, and reached 
Philadelphia on the 20th of May, after a journey of six days. Here a meeting 
of citizens was immediately held, at which it was unanimously resolved to make 
the cause of Boston their own. Bearing letters of sympathy, Revere returned 
to Boston, while a committee of correspondence which was appointed at the 
Philadelphia meeting sent copies of their acts, accompanied by a suggestion for 
a General Congress, to New York and the Colonies to the south. New York 
had received intelligence of the action of Parliament before the arrival of Paul 
Revere, and had despatched to Boston a message of sympathy and encourage- 
ment, and the bearer of it, John Ludlow, met Revere near Providence, Rhode 
Island, as each traveled his opposite way on the same account. The General 



North Square 

*'Mohawk" and Messenger 




^^ulRevere 




Congress favored by Philadelphia was, at the suggestion of the General Court 
1774 of Massachusetts, held in that city the following September, and the acts of 
injustice suffered by the Colonists were recited in a Declaration of Colonial 
Rights. Important memorials and resolutions were passed, and the American 
Association was formed — the first confederacy of the provinces and the real 
beginning of the Union. 

Far-seeing patriots realized the meaning of these measures, and the Mas- 
sachusetts House of Representatives, reorganized under the name of the 
"Provincial Congress," assumed the reins of independent government and 
voted to enroll twelve thousand Minute Men. Revere was called upon once 
more to ride to Philadelphia, and carried the "Suffolk Resolves," an incipient 
Declaration of Independence, to the Continental Congress, and again returned 
with unanimous assurances of unfaltering support. In October he made another 
journey to Philadelphia to learn the transactions of Congress, and on the 13th 
of December he carried to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the news that Parlia- 
ment had forbidden the further importation of gunpowder and military stores, 
and that a large garrison was coming to occupy Fort William and Mary, situated 
17JS in Newcastle at the entrance of Portsmouth harbor. Acting on this intelligence, 
the " Sons of Liberty " of that neighborhood surprised the fort on the night of 
the 14th and removed upwards of one hundred barrels of gunpowder and fifteen 
cannon. 

The inevitable conflict was fast approaching, and under General Gage, 
Governor of Massachusetts, the British forces at Boston were largely increased, 
and efforts were made to anticipate the uprising of the Colonists by seizing and 
removing the military stores and arms of the outlying posts. Thus watching 
and seeking to outwit each other, oppressor and patriot strengthened their situa- 
tions to the utmost, and awaited the turn of events. The Sons of Liberty 
increased their vigilance, and under rigid oaths of secrecy debated methods of 
resistance. In spite of all precautions it was found that intelligence of their 
meetings was immediately carried to Governor Gage, and though greatly 
annoyed, they were unable to identify the traitor until the more absolute 
gr^ wj \lO O^ division of actual conflict 

UCHTERLONY/7D^/56' INI.UENTRE O/. marked the opposing par- 

ties. Every available 
1^1 method of espionage was 
taken advantage of, and 
by the middle of April 
enough had been learned 
to convince them that the 
British were preparing for 
immediate action. They 
were therefore in readi- 
ness when, on the even- 
ing of the 1 8th, Dr. 
Warren learned that 
troops were gathering on 
Boston Common. He 
immediately sent for Paul 
Revere and communi- 
sm cated his fears for the 
safety of Messrs. Han- 



1775 




Scene cj '"'^"^ 

"* EPfSODI^ 



Pivotal Preparation 




The GreenDragon 



cock and Adams, who were at 
Lexington, and for whose cap- 
ture and that of the stores at 
Concord, he believed the expe- 
dition organized. He begged 
Revere to go at once to Lexing- 
ton to warn the patriots, on 
which errand he had already 
despatched one William Dawes. 
Revere a few days before had 
visited Lexington, and fearing 
the impossibility of direct com- 
munication when the blow should fall, had arranged to show by signal lanterns 
the route taken by the enemy. In the event of departure by water two lights 
were to be shown in the belfry of the North Church, and if by land, one. 

It was then about ten o'clock, and this "Mercury of the Revolution," as 
he has been aptly called, started immediately on that errand which is so closely 
identified with his name, and which is justly held to be one of the most preg- 
nant events of the nation's history. He first called upon his friend, Robert 
Newman, sexton of the North Church, and arranged for the displaying of the 
signals when the troops had started, a matter in itself of considerable danger, 
as regulars were quartered in Newman's house and, as elsewhere, watched every 
movement; then going to his home he clothed himself for the journey, and 
hastened to the wharf, where his boat was in readiness. Two friends, Thomas 
Richardson and Joshua Bentley, rowed him across the Charles River under the 
guns of the man-of-war Somerset, whose officers tardily awoke to vigilance a 
few minutes later. 

An amusing side light is thrown on this passage by an incident preserved 
in the traditions of the Revere family. It is related that while the party was 
on the way to the boat it was remembered that nothing had been provided to 
muffle the sound of the oars against the thole-pins. A halt was made before a 
house near by, and a cautious signal brought an answer from a darkened window 
above. Their need was made known, and the next moment a woolen petticoat 
exchanged its natural office for a place in history. 
Arriving safely at Charlestown, Revere was 
met by waiting patriots, who had observed the 
signal lights that now shone from the steeple on 
Copp's Hill. Procuring a horse, he started by 
the most direct route to Lexington, but had 
ridden only a short distance when he discovered 
two British officers lurking in the shadow of a 
tree, and was obliged to turn quickly, barely 
escaping their attack, and ride toward Medford. 
In that place he aroused the captain of the 
Minute Men, and proceeding, spread the alarm 
to Lexington. He found Messrs. Adams and 
Hancock at the residence of Rev. Mr. Clark, 
and while there was joined by Dawes, the latter 
arriving about half an hour later than Revere. . ■ 

They together continued their journey to Con-'. " 5lGNAL 

cord, and were soon joined by Dr. Prescott, a I AfrrpRTyjc 




The Midnight Ride 



1775 




lone 
.exin^ton 




Son of Liberty and resident of the latter 
place whom Cupid had kept from home 
until that hour. He proved a valuable 
addition to the party, as he knew the 
ground thoroughly and was acquainted 
at every house on the road. 

Revere had been informed of the 
presence of British scouts in that neigh- 
borhood and advanced with caution, 
leaving to the others the task of warning 
the farmers. They had covered about 
half the distance when Revere saw before 
him two men in the same suspicious 

LI o^i It w-*' «M*MV|MBOT|niMlN((SMW situation of those at Charlestown. He 
pvmr<trv*% ^W»™9l^*p!viM^ stopped and called for Dawes and Pres- 
eAinpLOn . .Mi!''M»Yi\rfW -«.'.cott to come up. Before the arrival of 

the latter, the two men, who like the 
others proved to be British officers, were joined by four more, and the little party 
was driven at the points of pistols and swords into a field where six more officers 
on horseback were ambushed. Revere and Dawes were captured, but Dr. Pres- 
cott, by jumping his horse over a stone wall, got away and reached Concord. 
The prisoners were closely questioned and threatened, but suffered no actual 
violence, and in the excitement of a volley from the Lexington militia as they 
neared that town on the way to Cambridge, they were abandoned by their cap- 
tors — who were themselves intent upon reaching a place of safety — and made 
their way again to Mr. Clark's house. 

From here Revere accompanied Hancock and Adams to a place of safety 
in Woburn, and then returned once more to the Clark house. He soon learned 
that the British troops were close at hand, and at the request of Mr. Lowell, 
clerk to Mr. Hancock, he went with the former to the tavern to secure a trunk 
containing valuable papers. The following extract from Paul Revere's written 
story of the affair gives a graphic picture of this incident: 

"We went up chamber, and while we were getting the trunk, we saw the 
British very near, upon a full march. We hurried toward Mr. Clark's house. 
In our way we passed through the militia. They were about fifty. When we 
had got about one hundred yards from the meeting house, the British troops 
appeared on both sides of the meeting house. In their front was an officer on 
horseback. They made a short halt, when I saw and heard a gun fired, which 
appeared to be a pistol. 
Then I could distinguish 
two guns, and then a con- 
tinual roar of musketry; 
when we made off with 
the trunk." 

This ends the record 
of Revere's part in this 
expedition. How the 
British troops passed on to 
Concord and precipitately 
returned is known of all, 
and like Revere's ride, has 




^^ssm^ 



At Lexington 




1775 









been worthily recorded in 
verse. It was war; and 
when its smoke had cleared 
away the parties that had 
suspected and watched 
each other as neighbors be- 
came enemies, with no neu- 
tral ground. Revere took 
up his residence in Charles- 
town, and from that point 
set about managing his 
affairs in Boston. A few 
weeks later, when passes 
could be procured, his wife 
and family joined him on 
the other side of the 
Charles River. 

More rides to New 
York and Philadelphia 
were required of Revere, 
but occupation more to his 
taste was offered the fol- 
lowing year, after the Brit- 
ish, harrassed by Washing- 
ton, had evacuated Boston. 
The departing troops had 
endeavored to disable the 
cannon at Castle William, 
now Fort Independence, 
and at the request of Gen- 
eral Washington, Revere 
undertook to repair them. 
He succeeded by inventing 
a new form of carriage, 
rendered necessary by the fact that the trunnions had been broken from the ///d 
guns. Shortly after this (in July) a regiment was raised for the defence of the 
town and harbor, and Revere was commissioned Major. In November of the 
same year he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment of State 
Artillery, in which office he performed many important duties, including the 
transference from Worcester to Boston, in August, 1777, of a body of several 
hundred prisoners captured at Bennington by Colonel Stark. He took part 
also, with his regiment, in the first campaign in Rhode Island, and was several 777,? 
times in command at Castle William, incidentally presiding at many courts- 
martial. His services in defence of Boston Harbor were onerous and marked 
by privations and discontent among his men, but he steadfastly fulfilled his duties 
and endeavored to make the best of the situation despite the adverse conditions. 

On the 26th of June, 1779, Colonel Revere was ordered to prepare one 
hundred members of his command for instant departure with the expedition 
being formed to attack the British at Maja-Bagaduce, now Castine, Maine. 
This expedition, under Brigadier-General Solomon Lovell and Commodore 
Dudley Saltonstall, reached the Penobscot in thirty-seven vessels on the 25th 




CAFmiNB^RKER HHKitsojiSc 
Hayes Memorial Lexington 



Military Services 




^^ulRevere 




Paul 

Revere 

Si/i/er 




of July and undertook to besiege the enemy. Mismanagement and misfortune 
prevailed, and on the 13th of August the attempt culminated in their utter 
defeat by a British squadron that suddenly appeared and hemmed in the 
Americans. The expedition was completely demoralized, burning its ships to 
prevent them falling into the enemy's possession, and making its way back to 
Boston in scattered parties. A most unfortunate feature of this affair, for 
Revere, was a quarrel engendered by a conflict of authority with a Captain of 
Marines, which, early in September, after Revere had again been placed in com- 
mand of Castle William, resulted in his removal from this place and the service, 
under complaint of this officer. Revere traced this trouble to enmity incurred 
in the discharge of duty at Castle William, and he had anticipated it by pro- 
testing against the presence in the expedition of certain members who were 
known to be unfriendly to him for this reason, having previously tried to 
sustain charges against him. Revere addressed a very full account of his 
doings on the expedition, and especially of the points at issue, to the Council, 
and repeatedly requested a court-martial, but not until 178 1 did he obtain a 
trial. He was, however, completely acquitted and vindicated, the decree being 
concurred in and signed by Governor Hancock. It was a matter of great regret 
to Revere that his opportunities were restricted to the service of the State. He 
had hoped and endeavored to obtain a place in the Continental Army, and was 
greatly disappointed at the inactivity of his influential friends in his behalf 

Thus closed Revere's service in the war, which was then waning, and he 
continued assiduously in the business of goldsmith and silversmith, which he 
resumed when relieved from his command. His last contribution to the cause 
of Freedom was in the interest of the adoption of the Federal Constitution 
when that matter was being considered by the statesmen of Massachusetts. 
lySS Its fate hung in the balance, when resolutions were presented to Samuel Adams, 
as usual a leader in the Convention, by Paul Revere, representing the mechanics 
and tradesmen of Boston in public meeting assembled. The resolutions were 
effective, Massachusetts ratified the Constitution, and other States awaiting her 
decision followed her example. As at the beginning so at the end. Revere was 
preeminent in establishing Independence. 

His unique abilities show to the best advantage in his conquest over the 
mechanical and chemical problems of the times, and the services rendered the 



1779 



Accused and Vindicated 




^^u I Revere 




Brazier 

mb.de by 
Revere 



^3 



68 



cause of liberty through these channels are equal in importance to those we 
have related. One of the first of these was the manufacture of gunpowder, at zjjd 
Canton, Massachusetts, when the only other source of supply was in the neigh- 
borhood of Philadelphia, and the proprietor of that hostile to his enterprise. 
He succeeded, nevertheless, from the first, and thus greatly enlarged the 
resources of the Northern Army. He was also employed to oversee the cast- jjjj 
ing of cannon, and to engrave and print the notes issued by Congress and by 177s 
Massachusetts. In addition to his regular trade, he established an important 
hardware store on Essex street, opposite the site of the famous Liberty Tree that 
was the center of much of the patriotic demonstration of pre-Revolutionary times. 

There was apparently no limit to the variety of work successfully essayed 
by Revere, for it is shown by abundant testimony that in his younger days he 
practiced with much skill the making and inserting of artificial teeth, which art 
he learned from an English dentist temporarily located in Boston, while he also 
designed many of the frames that now surround the paintings of his friend 
Copley. These were, however, but incidents in comparison with the heroic 
undertakings of his later years. Those were the days of beginnings; when 
everything started from the fundamental elements and those elements were dif- 
ficult to procure. No task appalled him, and many of nature's secrets yielded 
to his persistent investigations. In 1789 he established an iron foundry of con- 
siderable capacity, and in 1792 began casting church bells, the first of which, still 
in existence, was for the Second Church of Boston. He cast many of these — 
later taking his son, Joseph Warren, into the business — and examples of them 
are numerous in the old parishes of eastern Massachusetts. One at Saint 
Paul's Church, Newburyport, has been in continuous service until within a few 
months, and is now preserved as a relic. Brass cannon, and the many sorts 
of metal-work needed for the building and equipping of ships, of which the 
National Government was a large purchaser, were a part of the regular product 
of this establishment. He invented a process of treating copper that enabled 
him to hammer and roll it while hot, thus greatly facilitating the manufacture 
of the bolts and spikes needed in this work. 

In many respects the most important of all Revere's enterprises was that 
of rolling copper into large sheets, inaugurated at Canton, Massachusetts, in the 
year 1800. Concerning this. Revere says in a letter of December 22, that year: 
"I have engaged to build me a mill for rolling copper into sheets, which for me 
is a very great undertaking, and will require every farthing which I can rake or 
scrape." It should be remembered that his foundry and silversmithy were still 
in operation, and therefore the aggregate of capital required was considerable. 
He secured aid from the United States Government to the extent of ten 



';/ 




Practical Versatility 



Hancock-Clarke House 



i8or 




Lexington 



thousand dollars, which 
was to be, and subse- 
quently was, taken up in 
sheet copper. This was 
the first copper rolling 
mill in the country and it 
occasioned much favor- 
-w-^>^ able comment, the more 
^^ especially as every such 
triumph severed a bond 
of dependency upon the 
mother country, besides 
developing the power of 
our own. Here were 
made the plates — five feet 
long, three feet wide, and 
/,So9 one-quarter inch thick— for the boilers of Robert Fulton's steam engines, and 
' the sheets for sheathing many ships of war. In 1828 the busmess was incorpo- 
rated as the Revere Copper Company, and under this name is still conducted. 
The cares and duties of a busy life did not prevent Revere from cultiva- 
ting its social side, and here, as in other fields, he attained distinction. He was 
the first Entered Apprentice to be received into Saint Andrew's Lodge of Free 
Masons, and ten years later, in 1770, became its Master. He was one of the 
organizers of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and was its Grand Master 
from 1794 to 1797. In this capacity he assisted Governor Samuel Adams at 
J795 tne laying of the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House, July 4, 1795, 

and also delivered an address on that occasion. 
In 1783 Saint Andrew's Lodge was 
(\\A I y^i^ divided upon the question of remaining under 

^A*J' I ^Mijk -^^iv the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scot- 

land, which had chartered both it and the 
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, or of affilia- 
ting with the latter. Twenty-nine members 
favored the old arrangement, while twenty- 
^ three, including Revere, desired to change. 
The minority withdrew and formed the Rising 
•'States Lodge, September, 1784, with Paul 
Revere its first Master. He made jewels for 
these Lodges, and engraved and printed 
elaborate certificates of membership and 
• notification cards. 

At the death of General Washington he 

' was made one of a committee of three Past 

Grand Masters to write a letter of condolence 

to Mrs. Washington, and to solicit from her 

a lock of the hero's hair. This request was 

granted, and Revere executed a golden urn, 

about four inches in height, for the reception 

of the relic. He was one of the pall-bearers 

T7AI at the observance of Washington's funeral by 

■*'^* the Masons of Boston, and prepared the 



j8oo 




Lexington 



Social Attainments 




^^ulRevere 



GJ-OlN 





insignia, a large white mar- 
ble urn on a pedestal cov- t8oo 
ered with a pall and bearing 
other suitable emblems. 

Through correspond- 
ence he cultivated the ac- 
quaintance of relatives in 
Guernsey and in France, 
and from them learned 
much family history, often 
contributing on his part 
patriotic defence of his 
country and its French 
allies, of whom his cousin 
fy .J J I ~^ wj in Guernsey was especially 

nifchen Hancock-Clarke /raw j^ denunciatory. 

A lasting monument to the ruling passion of his life is the Massachusetts 
Charitable Mechanics Association which, chiefly through his instrumentality, 
was formed in 1795. He was its first president, and continued in that office ijgs 
until 1799, when he declined reelection, although his interest in its affairs was 
undiminished and his counsel its main dependence. 

Forty years old when he rode on the midnight alarm, Paul Revere gave 
the prime of his life to the service of his country. His earlier years of enthu- 
siasm had prepared the way, and his later years reaped the reward of his 
patriotism, industry and virtue. This reward was both material and temporal. 
From the people he had unqualified respect and abundant honors, while his 
own talents had provided him with a competency that enabled him to live well, 
to educate a large family of children, and finally to leave them in comfortable 
circumstances. 

He died May 10, 1818, aged 83 years, and was buried in the Granary 1B18 
Burial Ground in the company of his former friends, John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, and in the center of the scenes of his activity — almost under 
the shadow of the State House whose cornerstone he helped to set and whose 
significance he had labored to establish. 

Paul Revere was the man for the times, and the times developed Paul 
Revere. His works are history, and his personality is a profitable and inspir- 
ing study for all who regard public worth and private virtue and integrity. 




Obituary 



PAUL REVERE'S RIDE 



y I STE N, my children, and you shall hear 
j Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 
— ' On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five ; 
Hardly a man is now alive 
Who remembers that famous day and year. 
He said to his friend, " If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to-night, 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower as a signallight, — 
One, if by land, and two, if by sea j 
And I on the opposite shore will be, 
Ready to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm, 
For the country-folk to be up and to arm." 
Then he said, "Good night!" and with muffled oar 
Silently rowed to the Charlcstown shore. 
Just as the moon rose over the bay, 
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay 
The Somerset, British man-of-war; 
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar 
Across the moon like a prison bar, 
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified 
By its own reflecrion in the tide. 
Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street, 
Wanders and watches with eager cars. 
Till in the silence around him he hears 
The muster of men at the barrack door, 
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet. 
And the measured tread of the grenadiers. 
Marching down to their boats on the shore. 
Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, 
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, 
To the belfry-chamber overhead, 
And startled the pigeons from their perch 
On the somber rafters, that round him made 
Masses and moving shapes of shade, — 
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, 
To the highest window in the wall, 
Where he paused to listen and look down 
A moment on the roofs of the town, 
And the moonlight flowing over all. 
Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, 
In their night-encampment on the hill. 
Wrapped in silence so deep and still 
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread, 
The watchful night-wind, as it went 
Creeping along from tent to tent, 
And seeming to whisper, **A11 is well! " 
A moment only he feels the spell 
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread 
Of the lonely belfry and the dead; 
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent 
On a shadowy something far away, 
Where the river widens to meet the bay, — 
A line of black that bends and floats 
On the rising tide, hke a bridge of boats. 
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride 
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride 
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere, 
Now he patted his horse's side, 
Now gazed at the landscape far and near. 
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, 
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth ; 
But mostly he watched with eager search 
The belfry tower of the Old North Church, 
As It rose above the graves on the hill, 



Lonely and spectral and somber and still. 

And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height, 

A gUmmer, and then a gleam of light! 

He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, 

But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight 

A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 

That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and 

the light, 
The fate of a nation was riding that night ; 
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, 
Kindled the land into flame with its heat. 
He has left the village and mounted the steep, 
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, 
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; 
And under the alders, that skirt its edge, 
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, 
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. 
It was twelve by the village clock 
When he crossed the bridge into Mcdford town. 
He heard the crowing of the cock. 
And the barking of the farmer's dog, 
And felt the damp of the river fog. 
That rises after the sun goes down. 
It was one by the village clock, 
When he galloped into Lexington. 
He saw the gilded weathercock 
Swim in the moonlight as he passed. 
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare. 
Gaze at him with a spectral glare. 
As if they already stood aghast 
At the bloody work they would look upon. 

It was two by the village clock, 

When he came to the bridge in Concord town. 

He heard the bleating of the flock, 

And the twitter of birds among the trees, 

And felt the breath of the morning breeze 

Blowing over the meadows brown. 

And one was safe and asleep in his bed 

Who at the bridge would be first to fall, 

Who that day would be lying dead. 

Pierced by a British musket-ball. 

You know the rest. In the books you have read, 
How the British Regulars fired and fled, — 
How the farmers gave them ball for ball. 
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, 
Chasing the red-coats down the lane, 
Then crossing the fields to emerge again 
Under the trees at the turn of the road, 
And only pausing to fire and load. 

So through the night rode Paul Revere ; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo forevermore ! 

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, 

Through all our history to the last, 

In the hour of darkness and peril and need, 

The people will waken and listen to hear 

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, 

And the midnight message of Paul Revere, 

— LongfeUoiv . 

I & Co., publishers of Longfellow's \Vc 




is fourth of a series of patterns inspired by different yet characteristic phases of the 
"Old Colonial" style. "Colonial," "Georgian" and "Newbury" have 
successively and successfully embodied this in its more elaborate aspects, but it is reserved 
for the " Paul Revere" to exemplify the elegant simplicity which, the more especially 
in silverware, distinguishes the taste of our forefathers. The threads that form its only 
ornamentation may be found on much of the early work, notably on that of Paul Revere, 
whose conspicuous abilities in this and other fields have made his name immortal, and 
the storv of whose life is brieflv told in the preceding pages. 

This pattern is made in medium and heavy weights, all of which from the nature 
of its construction are substantial, and may be found in the stocks of leading jewelers of 
the United States and Canada. Purchasers of silverware should see that goods offered 
bear this trade-mark, which is a guarantee of Sterling quality. 





Towle Mfg Company Silversmiths 

N i:w H r R'l' PORT MASSACHUSETTS .-. CHICAGO Il.I.I^•OI^ 
N !■; W YORK. C I T V 

THR TOWLE MFG COMPANY DOES NO RETAIL BUSINESS ANYWHERE 



Tea Spoon. 
Nos. 15 and 18. 




Sterling Silver 
925 




Sterling Silver 
925 . 




Sterling Silver 



925 



Butter Spreader, large. 



Jelly Knife. 



ACTUAL SIZE 



I 



Sterling Silver 
925 
1000 



Butter Knife Pick. 




ACTUAL SIZE 

k!^-s ^Qf -s^s>^i 



Sterling Silver 
925 

iOOO 
Butter Spreader. H.H. 



Child s Knife. H H. 



m 



tA.^^ 





- 3 




ACTUAL SIZE 



Sterling Silver 
925 ,,.,^ 





Sterling Silver 
925 „,.,^ 



Horse Radish Spoon 





Individual Fish Fork 



Spinach Fork. 



Cold Meat Fork 





ACTUAL SIZE 



V 



Sterling Silver 



Ice Cream Fork 




3+(^^ 



PaulRevere 



Lemon Server 



Cucumber Server 





j:) 





Baptismal Basin 

First Church ^CHRIST 
Marblehead 

The Towle Mfg Company 

would acknowledge indebtedness to 
MR. ELBRIGE HENRY GOSS 

Authur of the Lift of Col. Paul Rctcri 

MR. BENJAMIN F. STEVENS 

.■iulhor of A Chaftcr of Fro-vimial History 

MR. EDWARD W. McGLENEN 

for MCCi to Paul Rei-ere engra-vtr.gi 

AND TO MR. N. L. RUSH and 
MISS ADA R. CONWAY. 

for other illustrations. 

COMPILEU AND ARRANGED BY 

GEORGE P. TILTON of the Tou^/e Mfg Compaq 
Printed by 

THE SOUTHGATE PRESS 

BOSTON, U. S A 





NEWBURYPORT, 1697. Whittier. 

UP AND DOWN THE VILLAGE STREETS 
STRANGE ARE THE FORMS MY FANCY 

MEETS, 
FOR THE THOUGHTS AND THINGS OF 

TO-DAY ARE HID, 
AND THROUGH THE VEIL OF A CLOSED 

LID 
THE ANCIENT WORTHIES I SEE AGAIN. 





The 

of the 

TowLE Mfg. Co. 

Which is intended to De- 
lineate and Describe some 
Quaint and Historic Places 
in NEWBURYPORTand Vicin- 
ity and show the Origin and 
Beattty of the Colonial 
Pattern of Silverware. 





NEWBURYPORT 

1 HE history of Newburyport is variously 
written, and, in a way, completely re- 
corded; but this mass of material, precious 
as it is, only suggests the wealth ofromance 
centering about the old town, locked up 
in journals and log-books, or fading away 
in the memories of the few relicts of earlier 
and more picturesque times. 
The ideals of to-day, here as everywhere else, are properly busi- 
ness and progress on the lines of modern opportunities; and this 
is the same spirit of enterprise which led our progenitors of 
seventy-five or one hundred years ago to their undertakings by 
sea and land, and brought them riches and renown in such 
generous measure. 

That they are interesting and picturesque is merely incidental; 
their purpose was as matter-of-fact and practical as any to-day, 
and as well attained; but time and changed customs lend charm 
to their personalities, while many of their deeds are records of 
bravery and greatness that would be memorable under any 
conditions. 

Going back still further, to its first settlement in 1635, on the 
banks of the Parker river, called by the Indians Quascacunquen 
and renamed by the setders in honor of their spiritual leader, 
we see a band of sturdy voyagers giving up the comforts of life 
in the mother country for the rugged hardships of a wilderness, 
and between them a long and tedious passage over a stormy sea 
in the small vessels and with the scant knowledge of that day. 
Some ot them had the previous summer journeyed from Boston 
to Ipswich, then the outpost, where they were joined by later 
arrivals; and traveling by land even for so short a distance being 



^te Colonial 1$ooi^ 



difficult, they loaded their goods in open boats and followed the 
shore to the pleasant haven which had been selected for their 
home. They were not needy nor driven to this step for a liveli- 
hood, as one of their first acts was stock raising on an extensive 
scale with cattle imported from Holland, and in the company 
were graduates of Oxford University. They soon established 
a thriving "plantation," as it was then termed, and were early 
incorporated and represented by deputy at the General Court 
held in Boston to administer the affairs of Massachusetts Bay. 

If we would realize the strength of purpose which sustained 
these colonists, we must picture the conditions which confronted 
them. The severity of New England winter; their isolation 
and lack of material resources, for almost everything must be 
laboriously wrought out; their danger from wild beasts and 
hostile Indians; and the uncenainty of those crops which meant 
so much for their good or ill. 

That they persevered and succeeded, Newburyport is the evi- 
dence; but the story of their trials and achievements is a re{. roach 
to the easy critic of the present, who reaps with little labor 
benefits for which they struggled and hoped, but of which, for 
the most part, they had httle comprehension. 

That they were devout people needs no saying, their public 
religious worship commencing under a spreading tree, the first 
Sunday after their arrival. That they also recognized the needs 
of the body as well as the soul, is evidenced by the license 
granted by the General Court to one of the setders, within six 
months of their arrival, to keep an ordinary, or inn, for the 
entertainment of such as needed. This community was early in 
establishing important enterprises which, with the systematic 
parceling out of the land and the development and management 
of current affairs, gave them abundant occupation and shows 
their remarkable energy and busmess capacity. The descendants 
of these pioneers occupy practically the same lands to-day, 
which are among the most prosperous farms of the region. 

The growth of the town was to the northward, and soon 
from the shelter of the "Oldtown" hills the settlement stretched 




Zi)e eolontal 1$ooik 




along the bank of the Merrimac, and, embracing eagerly the 
opportunities it offered, encouraged maritime enterprises in every 
way, until with the building of wharves and the establishment of 
ship-yards began the era which was to give to Nevvburyport its 
real power and position. The small vessels for fishing became 
numerous, and were followed by larger and more pretentious 
craft, which carried to foreign ports the products of the country, 
and brought back the rich goods and outfittings needed in the 
rapidly developing community, or distributed through surround- 
ing and inland towns. 

Through this commerce came wealth and culture, and many 
are the evidences of magnificent living among the rich merchants, 
while the numerous ship-masters returned from foreign lands with 
minds broadened and stimulated by contact with other peoples 
and tastes formed which greatly modified the old Puritan customs. 

The town furnished many troops for the Colonial and Indian 
wars, and was foremost in the demonstration against the Stamp 
Act, also heartily supporting the Revolutionary war from the first 
Lexington alarm. In these troops were officers of high rank 
whose deeds of valor are national history. 

The naval forces were greatly strengthened by ships built 
here, and from here also numerous privateers sailed with letters 
of marque and returned with rich prizes to be in turn fitted out 







on the same errands. Many are the thrilling tales of capture, 
imprisonment, and escape told by the returning heroes, and it is 
small wonder that with the prospect of booty and adventure active 
young men took naturally to the sea. 

Commercial activity suffered a severe blow in the embargo 
placed on foreign trade by the government in 1807, and while 
it lasted shipping was at a complete standstill. A few years 
ater, in 1 8 I I , came a second misfortune, in the form of the 
great fire which in one night destroyed sixteen acres of the busi- 
ness district, including nearly all the important public buildings 
and institutions. Though in a measure soon recovered from, 
these calamities served to seriously check advancing prosperity, 
and while later there were large importing interests they failed 
to reach their former importance, and have now, with changed 
methods of transportation, almost entirely disappeared. In 
their place have come mills and factories with their attendant 
needs and influences, bringing a larger if not a wealthier popu- 
lation, and it is by these that the city must continue to thrive. 

The manufacture of silverware is one of these factors, which, 
having its beginning as shown by authentic record in the modest 




Cf)e Colonial ISooik 



enterprise of William Moulton in i68g, has steadily developed 
until it is now one of the most important industries; and it is 
especially fitting that a Colonial pattern of spoons and like table- 
ware should be produced where one of the first silversmiths of the 
country worked, and established a business which has been con- 
tinued without interruption to the present day. 

It is interesting to note in this connection that here was born 
Jeremiah Dumraer, who, in 1659, was apprenticed to John Hull 
of Boston, one of the early settlers of that place and the first silver- 
smith in America. Jeremiah Dummer, who was thus the first 
native American to practise this art, was afterward judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Suffolk Coimty, and was the father of 
William Dummer, governor of the Province of Massachusetts. 

Another Newburyport silversmith who attained prominence 
outside his profession was Jacob Perkins, who, in 1781, at the 
age of fifteen, was by the death of his master left in charge of his 
business, and who at twenty-one was employed to make dies for 
the Massachusetts Mint. He afterward became famous as an 
inventor, and removed to London, where his genius was recognized 
by the Society of Liberal Arts, and he was rewarded with their 
medals. 

During this eventful history many men have arisen here to be 
enrolled among the world's acknowledged benefactors, and a 
few of these were noticed on another page, in connection with 
the places enriched by their remembrance. 

The growing interest in such matters fostered by historical 
societies, improvement societies, and the various organizations of 
descendants of Revolutionary patriots, is a marked sign of the 
times, and to such it is hoped these pages will appeal; while to 
those who may visit Newburyport, they will serve as an intro- 
duction: and others, far away, may realize some of the beauties 
and attractions of this old New England city 




!!^°l^*<«0> 




^fft Colonial ISooi^ 




THE EARLY WARS. 

IN the foregoing sketch we have briefly touched upon the part 
of Old Newbury, and later, Newburyport, in our country's 
early wars. Their record in the establishment and defence 
of our National government can be but outlined here, yet how- 
ever incomplete this account, it seems fit at a time of such wide 
awaking to the glory of our past, when individuals recall with 
justifiable pride the services of patriotic ancestors, that the brilliant 
acromplishments, and also the not less glorious though unavailing 
efforts of a community, be Indicated for the many to whom the 
full history is not available. 

In the early expeditions against hostile Indians, Newbury took 
an important part, from the Pequod war two years after her 
settlement, in which she fiimished one-fifteenth of the Massachu- 
setts quota; the King Philip war, in which more than one- half 
her eligible inhabitants were enlisted; the French and Indian 
war, when a part of her expedition against Cape Breton was cast 
away and lost; to the war with the Norridgewocks, which was 
terminated by the killing of Sebastian Ralle, their French leader, 
by Lieut. Jaques of tiiis town. 

During the frequent wars between France and England, while 
this country was still a colony, many men went from here, to fight 
in England's cause on the Canadian frontier. Chief among those 
were Col. Moses Titcomb, Capt. William Davenport, and 
Nathaniel Knapp. The former, serving in many campaigns under 
Sir William Pepperell, took part in the capture of Louisburg and 
the battle of Crown Point, where he was shot while directing his 
regiment in most efl^ective operations. Capt. Davenport raised 
companies and served in two campaigns, being with Gen. Wolfe 
on the plains of Abraham, and a few days later at the surrender 
of Quebec. 

It was reserved, however, for the thrilling issues of the war 
of independence to call forth the universal and unwavering 
patriotism of the residents of old Newbury. 

The story of pre-revolutionary agitation in Newburyport is 
one of steadily threatening protest, from the first application of 




tFfjp Colonial 1$ooii 



ihe Stamp Act. As early as 1 765 a stamp distributor was hung 
in effigy, while visiting strangers were subjected to rough hand- 
ling, if they were not quick to proclaim their antipathy to this 
measure. Such treatment was perforce exercised upon strangers, 
if at all, as in this town only four persons were suspected of 
loyalism and of these there was proof against but one, who died 
before the call to war which would have revealed his position. 
This was a record perhaps unequalled. 

From that time to the actual outbreak of hostilities, Newbury- 
port was in a ferment of restrained rebellion; this unity of opinion 
and harmony of action would have been impossible in a lesser 
cause, and was the more remarkable when we consider that such 
action meant the sacrifice of a large part of the town's greatest 
interest, her commerce and its dependent shipbuilding, and that 
the rejection of British goods meant the retirement of the many 
vessels in that trade. 

This was the actual result ; but instead of turning the people 
from their elected course it added to their determination, and they 
organized to prevent possible smuggling of the detested com- 
modities. Under the wise and temperate leadership of the 
Committee of Safety, they corresponded with neighboring towns 
and the remoter colonies, and when the first blow was struck at 
Lexington it found them ready and impatient for the great 
struggle for civil liberty. 

It was eleven o'clock at night on the nineteenth of April, 
1775, when the courier bearing news of the fight at Lexington 
reached this town; but not a moment was lost, and before mid- 
night the first detachment of minute-men was galloping over the 
road, while morning found four companies on the way to the 
scene of conflict. At the termination of this alarm these compa- 
nies returned,but others were soon formed for regular service 
in the Continental army, and did memorable work at the 
battle of Bunker Hill. 






^i)e Colonial BooiK 



Space forbids following these troops through this and other 
battles, but a few figures rise pre-eminent, and no account, how- 
ever slight, would be complete without them. 

Col. Moses Little was in command of a regiment in many 
important battles of the Revolution, beginning with Bunker Hijl, 
where he was ofiicer of the day when Washington took command. 
On account of ill health brought on in the service, he declined 
the commission of brigadier general, and the command of a 
special expedition raised by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Col. Edward Wigglesworth was appointed to a regiment early 
in 1776, and served with distinction for three years, when he 
was retired at his own request. He took a prominent part in 
Arnold's expedition on Lake Chaniplain, being third in com- 
mand, and materially aid^d the retreat of the flotilla when it 
was hemmed in by the enemy. 

Captain, afterward Major, Ezra Lunt was another who served 
at Bunker Hill, and it is asserted that his company was formed 
in the broad aisle of the Old South church at the close ofa sermon, 
in response to the pastor's appeal for volunteers; and that it was 
the first volunteer company of the Continental army. 

Here formed and embarked the important expedition under 
Benedict Arnold, then a valued officer in the patriot army, which, 
penetrating to Quebec, assisted Montgomery in liis gallant assault. 

As it was vi^ith maritime affairs that Newburyport was chiefly 
identified, it is to the sea that we must look for her most brilliant 
and individual victories. 

Congress soon realized that our shipping was being rapidly ex- 
terminated by the armed vessels of the enemy, and issued letters 
of marque to assist the feeble and barely established navy in re- 
taliating for these encroachments; ship owners here were not 
slow to accept these privileges, and many privateers were fitted 
out and manned, often by the flower of the town's youth; one 









of these, the Yankee Hero, the second of that name, sailing in 
1775 under Capt. James Tracy, with twenty guns and a crew 
of one hundred and seventy men, including fifty from Newbury- 
port's first famiUes, was never afterward heard from. 

The spirit that animated these bold mariners may be judged 
from the announcement made on the occasion of prayers in church 
tor the success of the Game Cock, the first privateer to sail out 
of any port, that she hoped to "scour the coast of our unnatural 
enemies," though she was a sloop of but twenty-four tons. 
She sailed from Newburyport in August, 1775, and succeeded 
in bringing prizes into port. 

It would be difficult to estimate the number of these privateers, 
but that they were numerous and successfiil will be understood 
when it is stated that twenty-four ships of which Mr. Nathaniel 
Tracy was principal owner, with a tonnage of 6, 330 and carry- 
ing z,8oo men, captured from the enemy one hundred and 
twenty vessels amounting to 23,360 tons, and which with their 
cargoes were sold for three million nine hundred and fifty thousand 
specie dollars. Mr. Tracy was also principal owner in one 
hundred and ten other vessels, twenty- three of which were let- 
ters of marque. These vessels were closely allied to the regular 
navy, which was now gaining strength, and we find the same men 
alternating between the command of privateers and government 
vessels, as the fortunes of war permitted. 

The frigates Boston, Hancock, and Protection, 
and the brig Pickering, were built here, as well as 
the sloop of war Merrimac which was built by sub- 
scription and tendered to the government, when its 
funds were reduced, to be paid for at a very low price 







when convenient. She was commanded by Capt. Moses Brown 
of this port, a remarkably gallant sailor, and during the five years 
that she was in commission made many important captures. 

The war ships Alliance and Warren were also built on the 
Merrimac, just above Newburyport, and were fitted out at this 
place. 

The name of Paul Jones, th; intrepid and irresistible "Citizen 
of the World," as he later styled himself, whose brilliant prowess 
was developed in the service of the United States, is connected 
with Newburyport through two of his ablest lieutenants, Henry 
and Cutting Lunt. 

The messieurs Lunt, cousins, first shipped in the brig Dalton, 
Captain Eleazer Johnston, which sailed, with a crew of one 
hundred and twenty men, November 15, 1776. The Dalton 
was captured, the twenty-fourth of the following December, by 
the sixty-four-gun man-of-war Reasonable, of the English navy, 
and her crew cast into Mill Prison, Plymouth, where they re- 
mained, and suffered great hardships, for more than two years, 
and were finally released through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin. 
During this time Charles Herbert of Newburyport, one of the 
number, wrote a journal which he preserved in spite of the close 
inspection to which they were subjected. After his death this 
journal was published^ and forms a most interesting and valuable 
record of life in an English prison. 

Henry and Cutting Lunt, on obtaining their liberty, went to 
France and enlisted as midshipmen with Paul Jones, on the Bon 
Homme Richard l\ien fitting out at L'Orient. They were speedily 
promoted lieutenants, and served their able commander, whom 
they greatly admired, in many of his fiercest engagements, in- 



Ctie Colonial ISooik 



eluding that with the Serapis. It was in this terrible battle, when 
Commodore Jones was fighting against heavy odd;,, that his success 
was almost reversed by the traitorous act of his subordinate, the 
Frenchman Landais. The latter was in command of the ship 
Alliance before mentioned, and, inspired by jealousy, continued 
under the presumable excuse of firing at the enemy, to rake the 
decks of the Bon Homme Richard, in spite of the frantic signals 
of the latter. Many Newburyport men were in the crew of the 
Alliance at that time, and were thus obliged to fire on their 
friends and townsmen. 

When Paul Jones was recruiting for a frigate building for him 
at Portsmouth, he came to Newburyport to engage Henry Lunt, 
and expressed great regret wnen he found that Lieutenant Lunt 
had sailed on the letter of marque ship Intrepid, of this port. 
He remarked that he would prefer Mr. Lunt to any office he 
had ever known. 

Many seamen from Newburyport also served under Jones in 
the Ranger, Bon Homme Richard, Alliance, and Ariel. 

While men-of-war and privateers carried brave men to seek 
the enemy abroad, those left at home were far from idle. Ship- 
building was very active, forts were established and maintained 
at the mouth of the river, while the English ship Friends, which 
had mistaken this port for Boston, was captured off the bar, by 
the stratagem of adventurous spirits who had observed her actions 
from the town and boarded her in open boats. 

In I 779 the ship Vengeance and the schooner Shark fitted out 
here and joined the ill-fated expedition by which it was intended 
to overthrow the British military post on the Penobscot, but 
which, after entering the harbor, was hemmed in by a large fleet 





^!)e Colonial ISoolt 

of the enemies' ships, that appeared unexpectedly. Rather than 
see them fall into the hands of the British, the commander of the 
expedition ordered his ships burned, and the crews found their 
way home overland. 

The war of 1 8 1 2 found Newburyport just recovering from 
the great fire of 1 8 1 1 , and the paralyzing Embargo of previous 
years. In striking contrast to their war spirit in the Revolution, 
the people of this town were almost unanimously opposed to this 
second war with England, and this not for reasons of mere com- 
mercia. policy, however much they needed business, but on the 
ground that such a war was unjustified, and that the diiFerences 
might easily be settled in other ways. An address adopted in 
full town meeting was sent to tht legislature of Massachusetts, 
in which they dec.ared their willingness to stand by the Con- 
stitution and defend their rights, and their equal unwillingness 
to take any aggressive part in the proposed war. These senti- 
ments were in the main adhered to, throughout hostilities, and 
in pursuance of them, forts were manned at the mouth of the 
Merrimac and at other points on Plum Island, which ser\'cd to 
keep at bav several English ships that hovered around this part 
of the coast, in the hope ot destroying the sloop of war Wasp 
and gunboats Number Eighty-one and Number Eighty-three, 
then building here. 

Although privatceiing shared to a great degree the unpopularity 
of the war, quite a number were fitted out here, some of which 
made briUiant records. Chief among these was the brig Deca- 
tur, Captain Wilham Nichols, wUch, during two weeks of one 
voyage, captured eight vessels, four ot which were armed. 
Earlier in the war Captain Nichols was in command of the 
merchant ship Alert, which was taken by the British man-of- 
war Semramis, and ordered to Plymouth under a guard from the 
latter. Before reaching that port, however. Captain Nichols 








and his men regained control of the ship and imprisoned the 
British seamen in the hold. Unfortunately, they soon fell in 
with another British ship, the Vestal, which again took them 
and carried them to Portsmouth, England. This may have de- 
termined Captain Nichols to his latter course which was of 
undoubted service to the National cause. 

Privateering, though apparently very remunerative during 
the war of the Revolution, did not prove so in the end, except 
as it stimulated business for the time being, and the enormous 
fortunes gained by individuals were much rduced by later 
losses and contributions to the expense of war. fn addition to 
the many merchant ships captured by the English, twenty-two 
vessels, carrying over one thousand men, sailed from here and 
were never afterwards heard from. 

In the eight years from the battle of Lexington to the proc- 
lamation of peace, Newburyport raised for current expenses 
$2,522,500, which was eighty-five times the aggregate of 
appropriations for an equal period immediately preceding. 

It was at first intended to print here the names of all who 
served in the Revolutionary wars, from Newbury and Newbury- 
port, but the impossibility of this becomes apparent when we 
find that in the neighborhood of fifteen hundred were in the 
army alone, at one time or another; while the number of those 
that were in the navy or privateers would be difficult even to 
estimate. In place of this, the publishers of this book will freely 
send to any of Newbury or Newburyport ancestry, all availa- 
ble record of any name submitted, or will, in any other way 
possible, identify early patriots. 



1tf)t Colonial l$ooik 

ALTHOUGH commerce and ship-building were the ch'^ef 
industrial interests of Newburyport in its early ) ears, 
invention and manufacturing were by no means absent. 
Reference has been made to the antiquity of silversmithing here, 
and much more might be said of the extent of this industry', and 
the variety of articles manufactured. Some of them, as for 
instance silver shoe-buckles, are now obsolete, while silver thim- 
bles and necklaces of gold beads, though still used, are not 
commonly the product of silversmiths. In 1824, machinery 
was invented here for the manufacture of silver thimbles, and an 
extensive business was developed in this line, but it has long 
since ceased to exist. 

Manv instances might be cited of great men who were trained 
as gold or silversmiths, but whose talents afterwards enriched 
other branches of art or science. In the old world, Cellini and 
Michael Angelo were prominent examples, and, later, PatJ 
Revere arose in this country and rendered important services for 
the welfare, comfort, and prosperity of a struggling people. In 
like manner, Jacob Perkins, the Newburyport silversmith, whose 
great skill as engraver and die- cutter, as well as silversmith, ii 
elsewhere referred to, was too richly endowed with ideas and 
ambition to limit his efforts to a narrow field. 

He was born July 9, 1766, and died July 13, 1849, after a 
life of versatile activity in the mechanic arts and sciences, where, 
in the face of triumphs that would have satisfied many, we find 
him turning from one problem to another, and gaining new laurels 
from each. One of his most important inventions was a machine 
for making nails, produced when he was but twenty-four years 
of age. At that time all nails were forged by hand, and a good 
workman could produce one thousand in a day. With his per- 
fected machines, the daily product of one man was increased to 
ten kegs, of one hundred pounds each. 

He associated with himself Messrs Guppy & Armstrong 01 
Newburyport, who built the machines, and together they estab- 





lished a manufactory at Newbury Falls, a part of the town now 
called Bvfield, where water-power was available. 

In the following extract from an advertisement in the Impartial 
Herald, Newburyport, 179;, v.'e catch a glimpse of business 
methods in those days of quaint customs : — 

The patentee would inform the public that they have begun 
the manufacture of brads, and will have a considerable number 
in fourteen or twenty days. As some will naturally think they 
cannot supply the whole continent and will therefore order from 
abroad, they would say that they have three engines which will 
make thirty-six Hundred thousand weekly, and will add one 
engine each month. 

N. B. A few whitesmiths may have constant employ and 
liberal wages. 

p . f Jacob Perkins, Inventor. 

P [ Guppy & Armstrong. 

To follow in detail all the enterprises and achievements of 
Jacob Perkins would unduly extend this -^iticle, and we can only 
briefly refer to the most important. 

He invented a stereotype check plate for the reverse of bank- 
bills, designed for the prevention of counterfeiting. This was 
very successfiil, there being no record of an attempt to counter- 
feit it, whereas the practice had been very common with those 
previously used. 

During the war of 1 81 2, he was employed by the National 
government in the construction of machinery for boring out old 
and honev-combed cannon, and he invented a steam gun that 
discharged one thousand balls a minute. 

He made great improvements in hardening and softening steel 
and particularly applied these to the engraving of that metal. 

He demonstrated the compressibility of water, inventing the 
Piezometer for this purpose, and invented instruments for 
measuring the depth of the sea. On his arrival in London in 
1820, he published a treatise on these subjects. He also 
experimented on new types of the steam engine, in some employ- 






'^52S?»3»^=^ 




ing steam at a pressure cf 65 atmospheres, or 975 pounds to 
the square inch. 

"Tr him all phenomena and conditions seem to have been a 
challenge, and he applied his fower to the solution of any 
problem presented. In London he was known as the "American 
Inventor," and was accorded much distinction. 

Another industry inaugurated by Newburyport capita] was 
located at the falls in Byfield. This was the Newburyport 
Woolen Company, established in 1 794, the first company in- 
corporated for that business in the state, and by some authorities 
named as the first woolen manufactory in America. The card- 
ing and other machines for its equipment were built by Stand- 
ring, Guppy, & Armstrong, in Newburyport, being set up in 
"Lord" Timothy Dexter's stable; and were the first made 
in this country. 

At Newbury a fulling mill had been in operation since 1687, 
when it was established by Peter Cheney, who sold it to John 
Pearson, by whose descendants it was operated as a fulling mill 
and blanket factory until destroyed by fire. It was succceced 
by the present mill, established by the Pearsons, Viho are most 
prominently identified with this industry. 

At Byfield, also, machinery for making wooden shoe-pegs 
was invented by Paul Pillsbury. This article completely revolu- 
tionized the manufacture. 

Other industries that at the beginning ot this century contributed 
largely to Newburyport's prosperity, were: — cordage-making, 
employing fifty hands; boot and shoe making (Newbury and 
Newburyport together), employing upwards of one hundred and 
fifty hands, these being scattered in the little shops that dotted 
the country in that day; comb-making, the product of which was 
nearly g 200,000, annua'ly; tobacco-manufacture, in the form of 



Itfte Colontal Uooft 



snuffs and cigars; tanning; morocco-dressing; wool-pulling; 
carriage-building; and not least of all, distilling. Rum was a 
very important commodity, freely drunk by high and low; and 
few advertisements of merchandise were seen without the 
announcement of a choice hogshead of rum, generally in large 
type at the head of the list. 

At the close of the last century there were ten distilleries in 
active operation here, contributing to the reputation of New 
England rum. 

Another notable feature was Newburyport's importance as a 
publishing centre, and the extent of its retail book-trade. 

The first newspaper here was established in I 773, by Isaiah 
Thomas and Henry W. Tinges, who, on December 4 of that 
year, issued the first number of the Essex Journal and New 
Hampshire Packet. 

Only a few of the books published here can be alluded to, but 
some of these were of much importance. 

The first svstem of Arithmetic pi.blished in this country was 
the work of Nicholas Pike, a Newburyport school-master, and 
was published here in 1 787. This was a very comprehensive 
work, and was an authority for many years. 

Blunt's famous "Coast Pilot" and other nautical works were 
published here by Blunt & March, who also issued many other 
volumes, including medical works. Bibles, Testaments, hymn 
books, and other religious works, such as ''Christ's Famous 
Titles and Believer's Golden Chain, together with Cabinet of 
Jewels." 

Other works were: Quarles' "Emblems and Hieroglyphics 
of the Life of Man," 1799, with copperplate engravings; "The 
Life of Nelson;" "The Life of Paul Jones;" "The Poetical 
Works of Peter Pindar, a Distant Relation of the Poet of 






Thebes;" the "Idler," in two volumes; and Volume II of 
" Letters Written by the late Right Honorable Philip Dorman 
Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield," Volume I of which was pub- 
lished at Boston. 

The publishers of these were Angier March, successor to 
Blunt & March, Thomas & Whipple, and John Mycall. 

An evidence of the magnitude of this business is the extensive 
advertising of books in the local papers of that time, and the fact 
that one of the stores burned in the great fire of 1811, con- 
tained a stock of gjo.ooo worth of bocks. 

Newburyport is, or has been, more or less identified with some 
of the most prominent educational institutions of the present, first 
among which is Harvard College. The town of Newbury con- 
tributed to the support of this institution in its earliest years, and 
had the honor of claiming its first graduate, Benjamin Woodbridge 
of this town being placed at the head of the class of nine who 
completed the course in 1642. 

Position in the class was determined by the standing or rank 
of the families of members, a method in keeping with the rigid 
social distinctions of those days. 

Newburyport furnished seven professors to Harvard College, 
including Samuel Webber who was made president in 1 806, 
and Cornelius Conway Felton, who was similarly honored in 
1 860. Other college presidents born here were Samuel C. 
Bartlett of Dartmouth, Leonard Woods of Bowdoin, and Ben- 
jamin Hale of Hobart. 

Dummer Academy, Newbury, was founded by Governor 
Dummer in 1 76 1, and was the first institution of its kind in 
operation in America. It has had A notable history, and is still 
in a flourishing condition. 



^fft Colonial Boolt 



EMINENT MEN OF EARLY TIMES RESIDENT 
HERE, NOT ELSEWHERE MENTIONED. 

Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, the subject of Whittier's poem 
of which the quotation on the first page of this book is the be- 
ginning, was born in 1652, and was one of the most learned 
and respected men of his time. He married Hannah Hull, 
daughter of John Hull, master of the Massachusetts Mint, re- 
ferred to on another page as the first silversmith in Boston, who 
presented the bride with a dowry equal to her weight, in silver 
sixpences. 

Theophilus Bradbury, a jurist of distinction and member of 
Congress under Washington's administration, was born here in 
1739. He was also justice of the Supreme Court of Massa- 
chusetts. 

Charles Jackson, a son of Jonathan Jackson, was born in 1 77 5, 
and berame an eminent lawyer and justice of the Supreme Court 
of Massachusetts. 

~ Patrick Tracy Jackson, born in Newburyport in 1780. 
Merchant and originator, with his brother-in-law, Francis C. 
Lowell, of cotton-cloth manufacture in America. They invented 
machinery, and established a mill at Waltham which was in 
successful operation mjny years, and was said to be the first 
manufactory in the world to combine cotton spinning and weav- 
ing, under one roof. Later, Mr. Jackson purchased the entire 
site and water privilege of the present city of Lowell, which he 
foundel, and named in honor of his brother-in-law and former 
partner, then dead. In 1830, Mr. Jackson, in company with 
Mr. Boot, conceived the project of constructing a railroad in 
N;w England, and, overcoming great obstacles, completed it in 
1835. This was the Boston & Lowell Railroad, now a part 
of the Boston & Miine svstem. 

Charles Toppan, the first president of the American Bank Note 
Company, was born in 1 796, and studied engraving in Phila- 
delphia. He was later associated with Jacob Perkins, with whom 
he went to England to introduce improvements in bank-note 
engraving. In 1 858, he organized the American Bank Note 
Company of New York, with branches in Boston, Philadelphia, 
Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Montreal. 

Jacob Little, son of a prosperous merchant of Newburyport, 
was born in 1797, and at an early age entered the employ 








/^h. 




a prominent merchant of New York. He afterward became a 
member of the New York Stock Exchange, and was the 
acknowledged head of the financial world of that city. 

William Wheelwright, one of Newburyport's greatest bene- 
factors, was born In 1798. He was a ship-master, and was 
cast away on the coast of Brazil in 1 8 23; which led him to 
settle and engage in business in South America, in the develop- 
ment of which he became a prominent factor. -He established 
steamship lines and built the first railroads on that continent, 
overcoming rjemendous natural obstacles, and finally acciunu- 
lating great wealth. His statue in bronze stands in the public 
square of Valparaiso, the gift of the people, in recognition ot 
lijs achievements. 

He always retained his attachment for and interest in his native 
town, and in his will provided for the establishment of a scientific 
school here, when the fund, which now amounts to ^400,000, 
should be sufficient. A part of the income of this sum is now 
used to defray the expenses of a scientific education for such 
graduates of the High School as desire it, some being maintained 
in Europe for this purpose. 

Caleb Gushing, the eminent lawyer and statesman, was born in 
Salisbury in the year 1 800, but came to Newburyport with 
his parents at the age of two years. He was educated for the 
bar, and early achieved distinction in his profession. He was 
minister to China and to Spain, and represented this country at 
the Geneva tribunal. 

He was also commissioned brigadier general in the Mexican 
War, and held many other important offices. 

Others whom Newburyport has been proud to call her sons 
by birth or adoption are: — 

Right Reverend Thomas M. Clarke, Bishop of Rhode 
Island, born here in 1812. 



d)( Colonial l$ooi^. 

Benjamin Periey Poore, journalist and author, bom at Indian 
Hill Farm, Newbury, the home of his ancestors for many 
generations, in 1820. 

General A. W. Greeley, of the United States Army, com- 
mander of the Arctic Expedition bearing his name. He was 
born in 1844. 

Mr. William C. Todd, founder of the Free Reading Room 
of this city, and lately donor of §50,000 to maintain a free 
newspaper reading room in the Boston Public Library. Mr. 
Todd was born in Atkinson, N. H., in 1823; and was for 
many years principal of the Female High School of this city. 

josiah Little, founder of the Public Library. 

Michael Simpson, by whose liberality the Public Library 
building was greatly enlarged and improved. 

George Peabody, the famous London banker, whose benefac 
tions amounted to millions of dollars. Mr. Peabody received 
his early business training here in the employ of his brother, but 
was obliged to leave Newburyport after the great fire of 1 8 1 1 . 
He endowed the Newburyport Public Dbrary with a fiand of 
1 1 5,000. 

NOTES. 

The quaint old sign of the Wolfe Tavern, pictured at the 
end of this book, is a pleasing reminder of the ancient institution 
of that hostelry, as well as a token of early patriotism and 
tribute to military greatness. 

Captain Wilham Davenport brought back from the plains of 
Abraham enthusiastic appreciation of his late commander. 
General Wolfe, who fell a sacrifice to bravery in the hour of 
his hard-earned victory. When, therefore, in 1 762, Captain 
Davenport transformed his dwelling near the lower end of Fish 
(now State) Street to a 'avern, he dedicated it to his 
lamented leader, and placed in front a swinging sign, 
elaborately carved, with a portrait of General Wolfe, 
surrounded by a wreath entwined with scrolls, the 
whole appropriately painted and gilded. This highly 



r>«*y 





^^: 



:;:•■ OOMT Ftfti UNLESS flREO UPOt 
•BUTir THElt M£A« TO HAVE A WA 
LtT IT BEOIN MERC 






^f)e Colonial Boolt 

decorative emblem was freely threatened with destruction, dur- 
ing the Revolutionary War, when only the hatred of all things 
British was thought of, and former pride in the achievements of 
Wolfe forgotten. While all other reminders of royalty were 
destroyed, and notwithstanding the declaration of a local news- 
paper, that it was an "insult to the inhabitants of this truly 
republican town," it remained in place until destroyed by the 
great fire of 1 8 1 1 . The present sign was erected in 1814, 
when the tavern was removed to its present location. 

Before the introduction of railroads, the Wolfe Tavern was 
the property, and a station, of the Eastern Stage Company, 
which ran daily trips, with relays of horses, to Boston and 
Portsmouth; and the arrival and departure of the stages, which, it 
may be noted, were all built in Newburyport, were events of 
considerable importance, and attended with consequent excite- 
ment. The Eastern Stage Company was the forerunner of the 
Eastern Railroad Company, which road is now operated by the 
Boston & Maine Railroad Company. 

The brick building on the corner of State and Harris Streets, 
which was the nucleus of the present hotel building, was first 
occupied as a residence by Colonel John Peabody, uncle of 
George Peabody, and then a merchant in this town. 

Two Newburyport men, members of Captain Richard Tit- 
comb's company, were of the number that conveyed Benedict 
Arnold to the British ship Vuhure, in September, 1780, and 
scorned his offer of promotion, if they would follow him in his 
then announced desertion from the American to the English 
forces. 

One of the ancient institutions of Newburyport is the ofEce 
of town-crier. It is now neither appointive nor elective, the 
present incumbent having, years ago, succeeded to it, and con- 





tinued without opposition. In early times he commanded atten- 
tion with a drum, and one of his duties was to escort petty 
culprits through the principal streets, calling attention to their 
offences, which they also were sometimes required to proclaim. 
The business of the present picturesque exemplar is, however, 
mostly confined to announcements of excursions or entertain- 
ments, varied with the promotion of retail trade, and his, "Hear 
what I have to say!" is preceded by the clang of a large hand- 
bell. It is doubtful if this functionary survives anywhere else in 
the United States. 

The Curfew Bell, which has recently given its name to a 
movement to compel the retiring of young people from the streets 
at nine o'clock in the evening, has, with the exception of a short 
interval in the last decade, been rung here nightly for one 
hundred and ninety-two years, and it is indeed a curfew, or 
signal for retiring, for many people. 

The first vessel to display the American flag on the river 
Thames, was the Count de Grasse, Captain Nicholas Johnson, 
of this port. 

A Newburyport ship, the Indus, was also the first to sail from 
this country to Calcutta, after the war of 1812, and made the 
return trip before news of her arrival had otherwise reached 
here. 

A few months later in the same year, another vessel, the 
Dryad, sailed from here to carry to Calcutta the first five 
missionaries of the American Board of Foreign Missions, an 
organization established here by a Newburyport and a Salem 
clergvman, but which has long since outgrown its early home 
and removed to broader fields. 

The history of ship-building at this port, includes many items 
of general interest. While it is impossible, through imperfect 



'Efft Colonial 1$oolt 




registration, to ascertain the exact number of vessels built on 
the Merrimac, it is probable that, from first to last, the number 
would be upwards of two thousand. 

The water-line model which enabled a designer to more 
easily and accurately ascertain the lines and sections of his 
creation, was invented here by a prominent ship-builder, 
Orlando Merrill, in 1794. The original model of this in- 
vention is now preserved in the rooms of the New Yorii His- 
torical Society. 

In 1853 the celebrated clipper ship Dreadnaught was built 
here, a vessel whose remarkable records of crossing the Atlantic 
in a little more than thirteen days, were nearly equal to those of 
the first steamships. 

Newburyport closed the record of ship-building in Massa- 
chusetts, with the launching, in 1882, of the Mary L. Gushing, 
the last vessel of that class built in this state. 

Although the various societies of Daughters of the Revolution 
are of comparatively recent formation, the spirit which they rep- 
resent was manifest in Newburyport as early as 1 796, as shown 
from the following from the Impartial Herald of that year. 

Newburyport, February 26, 1 796. Female patriotism. A 
number of ladies belonging to this town met on Monday, in honor 
of the day that gave birth to the man "who unites all hearts," 
and dedicated a few glasses to the following truly sentimental 
and highly republican toasts. 

1 . May our beloved President preside at the helm of government 
longer than we shall have time to tell his years. 

2. Mrs. Washington, respected consort of our illustrious chief. 
May the fair patriots of America never fail to assert their 
independence, which nature equally dispenses. 
Maria Charlotte Corday. May each Columbian daughter, 
like her, be ready to sacrifice their hfe to hberty. 
The day that saw the wondrous hero rise shall, more than 
all our sacred days, be blessed. 





WHILE the purpose of this book is to give, in connection 
with Colonial silverware, an outline of the Colonial and 
Revolutionary history of Newburyport, it is also designed 
to note briefly some of the chief points of interest in neighborin 
cities and towns. This reference to its main object is made 
that any seeming lack of proportion between the representation 
of a place and its known importance may be understood, and the 
random character of the selections accounted for. 

Salem is particularly rich in points of interest around which 
history or tradition has left its charm of romance or pall of tragedy. 
It was here that occurred the first armed resistance of the 
Revolution, when, on the 26th of February, 1775, the march 
of three hundred Br'tish troops sent by General Gage to seize 
munitions of war was arrested. From here came Colonel Tim- 
othy Pickering, one of Washington's most trusted advisers, and 
to whom was given successively every office in his cabinet, when 
the latter became president. 

In addition to its wealth of history and the memories of its 
once famous commerce, its heroes of war and statecraft, and its 
merchant princes, Salem is remembered and particularly visited 
as the home of Hawthorne and the scene of several of his romances. 
His birthplace, the home of his youth, the "House of Seven 
Gables," the "Grimshaw House," and Custom House, as well 






Wf>t Colonial 1$oolt 

as the many other houses and haunts immortalked in his writings, 
bring to the thoughtful visitor a vivid sense of personal acquaintance, 
not to be gained alone by the reading of his works. Other cities 
have historic associations and fine old architecture, have had even 
the witches — of painful memory — but only Salem can show 
these originals of storied scenes. 

THOUGH small in point of population, Marblehead has 
strongly marked characteristics, and has played a very 
important part in the history of our country. Like the 
other seaport towns of northern Massachusetts, it furnished many 
men for the navy of the Revolution, and none were braver or 
hardier than the sons of this rocky and picturesque hamlet. 
Chief among these was Captain Mugford, to whose memory 
and that of his crew a memorial has been erected. He captured, 
off Boston harbor, in May, 1 776, a British ship, laden with 
military supplies; but. after sending this safely to port, was the 
same day killed, while defending his ship against an attack of 
the enemy. 

Here lived Agnes Surriage, beloved of Sir Henry Frankland, 
and here also is the scene of Whittier's poem of "Skipper Ire- 
son's Ride," though the story is doubtless largely imaginary. 

The old town is said to have been a resort of pirates and buc- 
caneers from the Spanish Main, but it is pleasanter to contemplate 
its visitors of to-day, the magnificent yachts 
that rendezvous here from the coast 




ACROSS the harbor from Marblehead is Beverly, the two 
arranged like sentinels, guarding the approach to Salem, 
which is further inland. Marblehead and Beverly divide 
other honors, for the regiment commanded by Colonel Glover 
was recruited from both places, and took an active part in the 
Revolution. It was at one time stationed at Beverly, to cover 
the movements of British men-of-war lying in the outer harbor. 
This regiment was frequently selected by Washington for enter- 
prises requiring great courage and skill, as instanced by its respon- 
sible part in the evacuation of New York by the American army 
in 1776. Its most notable achievement, however, was the 
memorable passage of the Delaware, when, on the night of 
Christmas, 1776, Washington's armv was enabled, under the 
skillful guidance of these men of Marblehead and Beverly, to 
cross in safety the stormy and ice-filled river, and capture at 
Trenton a large part of the British army. 

Beverly was bombarded by the British ship Nautilus, but 
suffered no great damage. In return, her privateers, which were 
early commissioned, brought in many valuable prizes and materi- 
ally aided the American cause. 

AT the time of the Revolution and for the first half of this 
century, the whole of Cape Ann was known as Glouces- 
ter. Since that time the towns of Rockport and Annisquam 
have been set off, thus reducing the territory of Gloucester. 

Fishing, in which it is now supreme, has always been its lead- 
ing industry, and the "Captains Courageous" of Kipling were no 
less so when courage meant the braving of hostile guns as well as 
tempest and rocky shores. 






^fft Colonial ISoot 



A Newburyport privateer, the Yankee Hero, reinforced by 
Gloucester sailors, was captured, ofF the Cape, by a British man- 
of-war, disguised as a merchantman, after a hard fought battle. 
Among the noted patriots of those days. Captain Harraden of 
Gloucester was a famous and successful fighter who did great 
service for his country. 

On the southerly side of the entrance to Gloucester harbor, 
lies the reef of Norman's Woe — remembered in Longfellow's 
"Wreck of the Hesperus" — the ceaseless peal of the floating 
bell warning the mariner of its menacing presence, as when, on 
that fatal night of old, the skipper's daughter cried: — 

"O father! I hear the church-bells ring, 
O say, what may it be?" 

ONE of the most interesting of neighboring cities is Ports- 
mouth. From the earUest time it has been fortified, and 
later its fine deep harbor led to the estabUshment of the 
Navy Yard and attendant government institutions. 

All the prevalent sentiments of liberty and independence noted 
in accounts of other places were characteristic of Portsmouth, 
though the town had probably a greater number of prominent 
loyahsts than any other, save Boston. They were roughly handled 
by the patriots, and at the outbreak of open hostilities were obhged 
to seek safety elsewhere. 

One of the first decisive acts of the Revolution, if not the first, 
was successfully consummated here, on the night of December 
14, 1774, four months before the battle of Lexington. 

On that night, a party of men, anticipating the garrisoning of 
Fort William and Mary, at Newcastle, by the forces of the king, 
descended on the fort, surprising and overpowering the sentinel 
and commandant, forced its surrender, and removed to Portsmouth 
upwards of one hundred barrels of gunpowder and fifteen of the 
lightest cannon. The munitions were effectively used in the Rev- 
olution, a large part of the gunpowder being sent to Cambridge. 
Portsmouth was markedly aristocratic 
, ^^ in early times, and the elegant Colonial 
^sjj'^-'ir- r-'^ mansions that still adorn its streets are 
};^ reminders of the days of affluence, 
^ when, like Newburyport and Salem, 
it gloried in a large foreign trade or 
hoarded the gains of privateering. 




It'bt Colonial ISooik 



HAVERHILL, which is to-day a populous and busy city, 
lacked the advantages of the coast towns, and although 
settled in 164.0, did not reach its present development 
until the era of manufacturing had superseded that of commerce. 
It was, however, notably active in the events leading up to the 
Revolution, and flirnished, both promptly and willingly, its fiill 
quota of men and funds for that war. 

In earlier times, Haverhill suffered severely from Indian attacks, 
its inland situation rendering it particularly liable to this danger. 
The most famous of these took place on the fifteenth of March, 
1697, when thirty-nine persons were killed or captured, and a 
number of houses burned. Among those taken prisoners were, 
Hannah Duston — whose husband, Thomas Duston, fought his 
way to safety, with seven of their eight children — and Mary 
NefF, her nurse. After traveling some days and suffering many 
hardships, they were brought to an island in the Merrimac, 
situated a few miles above what is now Concord. Early on the 
morning of April 30, while the savages all slept, Mrs. Duston 
aroused her nurse and an English youth who had been longer a 
prisoner, and, arming themselves with tomahawks, they killed 
their captors, to the number of ten, a squaw and youth escaping. 
After scuttling all the canoes but one, they provisioned that and 
started back to Haverhill, but, before going far, decided to return 
and scalp the Indians, as evidence of their deed; this they did, 
finally reaching home in safety. One of the features of Haverhill 
is the Hannah Duston monument commemorating this event. 

A FEW miles from Newburyport, in the town of Amesbury, 
is the home of Whittier's later years, and from there, in 
1892, he was buried, the simple service attended by a 
gathering of genius such as few occasions could attract. 

An interesting reminder of Whittier, in Amesbury, is the 
" Captain's Well," the subject of his poem of that name. 
It was constructed by Captain Bagley, in or about 1794. 

" I will dig a well for the passers-by, 
And none shall suffer from thirst, as I." 

S active revolution had its beginning in the battles of Con- 
cord and Lexington, battles which filled the roads from 
far and near with hurrying minute-men, pressing 



A 









^tie Colonial 1$ooft 



eagerly to the aid of their heroic compatriots, we have included 
illustrations of a few of the many historic buildings and commem- 
orative monuments identified with this uprising, with which these 
towns abound. 

All the towns here written of, and many others, share in a 

with Concord and Lexington, the glory of these 

monuments; for, while only those favored by proximity arrived 

in time to take part in the fighting, all responded imme- 




SOME PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST IN 

NEWBURYPORT AND VICINITY WHICH 

MAY BE REACHED BY ELECTRIC CARS. 

Newburvport is situated at the mouth of the Mer- 

RiMAC River, which joins the Atlantic on the north 

SHORE of Massachusetts Bay, thirty-seven miles from 

Boston, and is reached by two divisions of the Boston 

AND Maine Railroad, from the Northern Union Station, 

Causeway Street, Boston. 

Parker river, named for Rev. Thomas Parker, one of the first 
settlers who landed on its north shore in 1 63 5. About four miles 
from railroad station. 




^^J'' 



^^t Colonial 1$ooite 



The picturesque Spencer- Pierce house, also called the 
"Garrison House," built by Daniel Pierce about 1670, on a 
farm offour hundred acres laid out to John Spencer in 1635. 

"Trayneing Green," laid out in 1642. Scene ot the en- 
campment of Quebec expedition under Benedict Arnold, 
September, 1775, and location of a boulder and bronze tablet 
commemorating the event. 

The Noyes house on Parker Street, built about the year 1646 
by Rev. James Noyes associate pastor with Rev. Thomas 
Parker. Near by is the old elm of Newburv, a tree of romantic 
origin, and the subject of a poem by Hannah Flagg Gould. 

The Coffin house, High Street, occupied by Tristram Coffin, 
in 1653, and afterwards the residence of Joshua Coffin, the 
historian of Newbury, also remembered as Whittier's "Village 
Schoolmaster." Still occupied by descendants of the original 
owner. 

The Illsley house. High Street, near head of Marlborough 
Street, built in 1670, and at one time a tavern. Nearby, from 
1653 to 1755, was the Blue Anchor Tavern, the most important 
of early inns. 

House No. 65 High Street, owned and occupied by Caleb 
Cushing at the time of his death. 

First Presbyterian meeting house, Federal Street, erected in 
1756 and rebuilt in 1856. Here Rev. George Whitefield, the 
great evangelist, preached and was buried, in a vault under the 
pulpit. 

Nos. 3 and 5 School Street, the house where Will'd-j Uoyd 
Garrison was born. 

Nos. 9 and 1 1 School Street, the house where Rev. George 
Whitefield died. 

Bomb-shell, on a stone post at the comer of Middle and Inde- 
pendence Streets. Brought from Louisburgby Nathaniel Knapp, 
after the capture of that fortress, in 1758. 

Market Square. On the southeasterly side stood the house 
owned by William Morse, whose wife, Goody Morse, was, in 
1679, convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death; but, the 
people becoming more enlightened, the sentence was not executed 







€^f)e Colonial 3$oott 



This was probably the first case of trial and conviction for witch- 
craft in Massachusetts. 

Rooms of Newburyport Marine Society, State Street, organ- 
ized in 1772; containing curiosities gathered by members. 
Open to visitors from 10 to I 2 a. m., 2 to 4 p. m. 

No. 21 Charter Street, for many years the residence of Hannah 
Flagg Gould, author of several volumes of prose and poetry. 

Public Library building, erected in 177 1 by Patrick Tracy, a 
prominent merchant, as a residence for his son, Nathaniel Tracy, 
also a merchant and ship owner who attained wide prominence 
by reason of the magnitude of his operations and the magnificence 
of his living. Washington occupied apartments in this house 
in 1789, and Lafayette was entertained here in 1824. In 
1865 the building was purchased and adapted for the present use, 
and was added to in 1882, by the generosity of Michael Simpson. 
On the first floor are: a free reading room, maintained for many 
years through the liberality of William C. Todd, Esq., and the 
rooms of the Historical Society of Old Newbury, where visitors 
may inspect objects of historic interest. Some of the rooms on 
this floor retain their original character. 

Dalton house. No 95 State Street, built in 1750, and occu- 
pied by Tristriam Dalton, the first senator to congress from 
Massachusetts. Was later occupied by Moses Brown, a wealthy 
merchant. Now owned and occupied by the Dalton Club. 

Frog Pond and Bartlett Mall, now included in Washington 
Park, were first unproved in 1 800, through the exertions and 
liberahty of Captain Edmund Bartlett. 

The Court House stands on this Mall, and nearly opposite is 
the Putnam Free School building, one of the earliest and most 
liberal institutions of its kind. At the easterly end of the Park 
is a statue of Washington by J. Q. A. Ward, presented to the 
city by Daniel L Tenney. 

House No. 34 Green Street, built in 1879 by Hon. Theo- 
philus Parsons, an eminent jurist, with whom John Quincy 
Adams and Robert Treat Paine studied law, and occupied by 
him until 1 800. 





Brown Square, given to the city by Moses Brown in 1 802. 
The statue of William Lloyd Garrison was presented to the 
city by William H. Swasey, Esq., and is by David M. French 
of Newburyport. 

Meeting house of the First Religious Society, Pleasant Street, 
built in 1 800. A fine example of early architecture, with 
characteristic interior. 

High Street, St. Paul's Church. The first building was 
erected here in 1738, and was taken down in the year 1800, to 
make room for the present edifice. Right Rev. Edward Bass, 
D.D., was at that time rector of the church, and was the first 
bishop of the diocese of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It has 
many interesting architectural features, and also a bell made by 
Paul Revere. 

Dexter house. No. 201 High Street, built by Jonathan Jack- 
son in 1772, and later purchased and occupied by "Lord" 
Timothy Dexter, a wealthy and eccentric character, by whom 
it was adorned with many wooden statues, since removed. It 
was purchased in 1 874 by Mr. George H. Corhss, the renowned 
engine builder, and occupied by his family until recently. 

Lowell-Johnson house. No. 203 High Street, built about 1774 
by John Lowell, son of Rev. John Lowell, who was afterwards 
judge of the United States Circuit Court. He was the father of 
Francis Cabot Lowell, for whom the city of Lowell was named, 
grandfather of the founder of the Lowell Institute of Boston, and 
also grandfather of James Russell Lowell. The house was later 
occupied by John Tracy, son of Patrick Tracy, and he entertained 
here, in 1 782, the Marquis de Castellux, Baron Talleyrand, 
and other officers of the French army. 

House No. 244 High Street, frequently the home of John G. 
Whittier during the last years of his life. 






iE?-""*- 



%^arJirSi^i-tf ^jri^^^ 



The Toppan house, No. lo Toppan Street, built by Jacob 
Toppan in 1 670, and still in possession of his lineal descendants. 

House northeasterly corner of Oakland and High Streets, was 
owned and occupied by James Parton. 

Pillsbury place. No. 265 High Street. This was first the 
farm of Edward Rawson, clerk of the town and member of the 
House of Deputies. Later, he was for thirty-five years secretary of 
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. In 165 i it was by him sold 
to Job C. Pillsbury, who in 1700 erected a dwelling house, 
which was destroyed by fire in 1889, and of which the present 
structure, owned and occupied by his descendants, is a copy. 

Essex, Merrimac, or "Chain" Bridge. Here in 1792 was 
erected the first bridge across the Merrimac river. It was, in 
1810, superseded by the present suspension bridge, which was 
the second of its kind in the country. 

Deer Island, home of Harriet Prescott Spofford. The house 
here was, in the early part of the century, a noted tavern and 
toll-house for the bridges on either side. 







7tf>t Colonial ISoolt 



Among the most interesting spots to be found are the old 
burial grounds with their curious and quaintly inscribed head- 
stones, memorials in many cases of famous characters, and in 
themselves a written history of many early events. Those 
most easily reached are : — 

The Burying Ground of the First Parish, High Street, near 
" Trayneing Green." Man) of the first settlers are buried here. 

The Old Hill Burying Ground and the New Hill Burving 
Ground, both on Pond Street, near Washington Park. Here 
are buried many once prominent in local and national afl^airs. 

St. Paul's Church-yard, High Street. 

Burying Ground of the Second Parish, Sawyer's Hi 

Belleville Cemetery, formerly churchyard of Queen Anne's 
Chapel, the first building of the Episcopal Church. 

Oak Hill Cemetery, State Street, consecrated in 1842, is the 
most important modern burying ground, and is noteworthy for 
the beauty ot its situation and arrangement, as well as for its 
entrance gates and many fine monuments. 

For much of the information contained in the above 
tilt the compiler is indebted to a volume entitled 
•'OULD NEWBVRrr by John J. Currier. 
Published by Damrell and Vpharn, Boston, Mass. 





nt Colonial 1$oolt 



Newbury 



Georgian 



Paul Revere 



RW"^ 



MADE IN STERLING SILVER ONLY, ^%\% FINE. 

The three patterns shown on this page have been issued since the 
publication of the second edition of this book, and they represent the 
continuance of the Colonial idea, which has become a distinctive feature 
of the product of the Towle Mfg. Company, both in Table Flat Ware 
and Hollow Ware. 



COLONIAL 



THE Colonial pattern embodies within the limited 
compass of a line of table flat ware the purity 
and dignity of the style of architecture and 
furniture whose name it bears. The popularity 
of this style is deep-rooted and growing, to the extent 
that it is now accepted as the most characteristic and 
appropriate realization of American taste. : : : : 
An unique feature of this design is the faceted effect of 
the spoon bowls, which thus harmonize with the angular 
shapes of the Colonial style, but yet are so slightly 
indented that this form is no detriment to use, being, in 
fact, hardly perceptible when so tested. : : : : 
This style of bowl is fully protected by letters 
patent, and can be had only on the Colonial pattern, 
which is made in sterling silver only (tVitV fine), and 
may be found in the stocks of first-class Jewelers 
throughout the United States and Canada. Buyers of 
silverware should carefully examine the trade-mark, 
which is a guarantee of quality. :::::: 




TOWLE MFG. COMPANY 



Sii-'c 



ersf/n 



ths 



NEWBURYPORT 
CHIC.ACO : 

NEW YORK crrv 



: : : M.AS.SACHUSETTS 
: : : : : ILLINOLS 

I.ARTIORI) HLDC., UNION .SO. 



The TOWLE MFG. COMPANY does no retail business anywhere 



Table 



Dessert Dessert (Reverse) 




Tea { SiiiallJ 




Sugar 



•Berry 




The illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
equlva:ent to one- 
quarter the actual 
area of the articles. 



Su^ar Sifter 




Soup 



Pudding 



Dressing 





Chow Chow 



The Illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
equivalent to one- 
quarter the actual 
area of the articles. 




Cream Punch Gravy Oyster Mustard Soup 




The Illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
equivalent to one- 
quarter the actual 
area of the articles. 



Vegetable 





The Illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
eiiulvalent to one- 
<)uarter the actual 
area of the articles. 




Salad 




The Illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
CQulvalent to one- 



Sliced Lemon 




The UlustrationH on 
this page are one- 
half scale, whicli is 
equivalent to one- 
i|uarter the actual 
area of the articles. 




Cliow Chow Pickle 



"lie lllustratloDB on 
his i)age are one- 
lalf scale, which Is 
^ijiilvalent to one- 
liiailer the actual 
rea of the articles. 



Hish Salad 

Indivifliial ^ (Individual) 



I^ettucc Child' 



CliiM's I.einon Marro 




Tete-a-Tete 



Sugar 



L 



The Illustrations on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
eiiulvalent to one- 
cinarter the actual 
area of the articles. 



Asparagus 




Vegetable 



Cold Meat f Large 1 Sardine No. 2 Asparapus 




The llluBtratlons on 
tills page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
equivalent to one- 
quarter the actual 
area of the articles. 



Jelly 



Platter 




Cake Orange Tea Cheese Dessert Medium Table 





v_. 



The lllustiHtlons on 
this page are one- 
half scale, which Is 
equivalent to one- 
quarter the actual 
area of the articles. 



Meat Meat 



Bird Game Game Hread 




The lUustrations on 
this page ore one- 
lialf scale, which Is 
equivalent to one- 
iliiarter the actual 
urea of the articles. 




1^ 



alia all otfjtr pictcg of J^STatlle jFlat 



WiUVt J^ i.^ paJ^ip i9l)oUjn in tlji^ voon, 

uff) i.£f"al0"o rrtijcn an arfount of tftet^itt 
tiitntu Wi^t ot tf^t 33it\>oluUon 

aiiti tl)£ actiS of opjjrcjSBion U)l)icl) pceccbcd 



anb pt:oboftc^ '<• '*^ '■•^ sv<^^r(. ,,.r ^^^^t^ sunbrv 
picttircjg of jpiatcg gfiingg tbnitiftcti 
iDitlj tlji^ niomnitou.itf conflict -i^ anb in iefomc 



prd)jcrlp caHcb ertoxsUn <^ , - of au1)y 



tcctuK, from tof)icf) t(ic bcsign of ttjije? pattern 



iiS OcribcD; M)icl\ stnic tDasf firiSt protJuccb in 



lEnaluntt in tf)refittitfent|i cmtutfi anu 



uit of an adaptation of classical 



clnnait£f to ncto conbitionjS of application, anb 



anofiiifiirfna'ap 



piirtrnant to tfje 



numt attb tiimu 





By the KING, 

A PROCLAMATION, 



For fupprefTing Rebellion and Sedition. 



GEORGE R 




HERE AS 1 



o*-* 



ur Subjects in divers Parts of Our Colonies and Plantations 
in Narih /t'ii(r,ca, milled by dangerous and ill-defigning Men, and forpciting 
the Allegiance which ihcy owe to the Power that has ptoi^Ocd and fullaincd 
(hem. after vafii,us diforderh' Afls committed in Didufbjncc of the Publick 
Peace, 10 the Obllruflion ot lawtul Commerce, and to the Opprefllon of Our 
ioyal Subjefls ejfrying on the fame, have at length proceeded to an open and 
^v.i r ^j^a avowed Rebellion, by arraying thcmfclvcs tn hollile Wanner to wuhftand the 
^'•kVS^^TK Execution of the Law, and traitoroudy preparine. ordering, and levying War 
liJCSwi^^^S? againft Us; And whereas thcr* ii Reifon lo apprehend that fuch Rebellion hath 
been much promoted and encouraged by the train rous Corrcfponacnce, Counlcls, and Comfort of 
dlvcfs wicked and defpcrale Perfons within this Realm : To the End therefore that none of Our Subjcfls 
inay ncpk-^ or violate ihcir Duty through Ignorance ihcrcot, or through anv Ooubt'of the Proic£lion 
which the Law will afford to theit Loyalty and Zeal ; We have thought fit, by and with the Advice 
Our Privy Council, lo ifluc this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring that not only all Our 
Officers Civil and {Military are obliged to exert their utmoft Eiidcavours to fupprcfs fuch Rebellion, and 
to bring the 1 ranors to Juflicc ; but that all Our Subjctls of this Realm aod the Dominions thereunto 
belonning are bound by Law to be aiding and alTifting.irf llie SupprclHon of fuch Rebellion, and to 
difclolc and make known all traitorous Confpiracici and Attempts againA Us, Our Crown and Dignity; 
And We do accordingly (Ifjaiy charge and command all Our ORftcrs as well Civil -a Military, 
ond all other Our obedient and loyal Subjc^s, lo ufe their utmod Endeavours to wiihlland and 
Tupprtfi fuch. Rebellion, and to difjofc and mAc known all Treafons and traitorous Conl})!- 
racics u-bich they fball know to be aga'nfl Us, Our Crown and Dignity ; and for that Purpole, 
that they tranfmlt lo One of Our Principal Secretaries of State, or other proper Officer, due and 
full Information of all Perfons who fball be found carrying on Corielpondence wiih, or in any 
Manner or Decree aiding or abcitlne the Perfons now in open Armi.and Rebellion agjinft Our 
Government within any of Our Colonies and Plantations m North Amtrico in order to bring to 
condign Punilbmtnt the Authors, Perpetrators, and Abettors wf fuch traitorous Defigns. 

Given at Our Court sr St Jainai, the 



God fave the King. 



LONDON. 



led by CtiorUi Ejrt and /^.//-j/^ S,rat,i'>. Ptir 



the King's moil Excellent Majefly. 117$' 



= """"""""'=N the outskirts of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by the water's edge, 
I /'^\ = stands a picturesque old mansion that will, if we are so minded, carry 
i V^^ i us hacliward, at one step, to the "Old Colony days" when George 
ri iiMiiMiil III ruled over the English people on both sides of the Atlantic. 

It was built by Governor Benning Wentworth, and from under its roof '/.f 
issued those first edicts of oppression that stirred the people to revolt. Within '7^J 
its walls one needs but little help from fancy to people it again with loyal re- 
tainers, assembled, perhaps, in its ancient council chamber, with ample chim- 
ney-piece, the carven heads of which might, could they exercise the privilege of 
their sex, reveal many a bit of inner history. We are prosaic indeed if we do not 
feel the menace of sudden alarms suggested by the grim array of muskets on either 
side of the stoutly barred door; and the discovery of a prisoner's ward, tucked away 
in a remote corner, should complete a realization of the stern conditions of life in the 
eighteenth century. 

It is not our purpose, however, to linger in this house, fascinating though it be, 
but to pass through it from the world of to-day to the times it so vividly recalls. 
Two names that are intimately connected with it will readily take us across the 
ocean, and back through a century and more, to the court of the king whose mis- 
guided policy was the birth-warrant of our nation. One of these we find in New- 
castle, separated by a devious inlet from Little Harbor — where Governor Wentworth 
built — and reminiscent of the Duke of Newcastle who was prime minister of 
England and leader of the Whig party at the beginning of the Revolutionary period, i?^" 
A few years later, after the turn of events had deprived him of power, he again '76^ 
entered the cabinet with the post of privy seal under the leadership of the Marquis of 
Rockingham, a member of the Wentworth family, for whom Governor Wentworth 
had named the county back of Portsmouth and Newcastle. 

Although nominally representative of the people. Parliament was in those days 
the creature of its leaders, or the King, as successive complications favored one or the 
other ; boroughs were bought or bullied by the dominant party, and thus the mo- 
mentous enactments that goaded the colonists to revolt were the results of contested 



intrigue, a game with living 
played by the government 
which the English people 
The conception of the 
to Jenkinson, secretary to 
vored minister; but Parlia- 



9n 0in ftfount 




pieces and tremendous stakes, 
and the opposition, and in 
had little real voice, 
odious Stamp Act is credited 
Lord Bute, the King's fa- 
ment rejected it when first '7^' 



ovetrnoc ^enturoetK K^ouse 




|p0trt«tU0utU 3ft 



proposed, although it was universally conceded that America should contribute to the 
payment of the enormous public debt contracted in the protection of the colonics 
from the French and Indians. Even Americans acquiesced in this sentiment, but 
they proposed to pay it by grants from their assemblies and in their own way. 
George, however, had been exhorted by his mother, the Princess Dowager, to "be 
a king " and encouraged to assert his individuality — advice which conditions did not 
favor, nor the King's ability warrant, but which he persistently endeavored to carry 
out in spite of its disastrous effect. Under these circumstances the proposition to 
, levy a stamp tax was revived and the act passed in Febnaary, 1765. William Pitt, 
the constant champion of the colonies, was ill at the time, and greatly deplored its 
passage. Throughout the remainder of his life, which ended while the war was in 
o progress, Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, was an ardent advocate of the liberties of the 
colonists ; but his eiforts were of little avail, and although he was at one time urged 
by the King to form a ministry, many concessions being made to induce him to do 
so, personal ambition and the resulting internal friction had so divided his party 
that he was unable to unite the leaders, and the policy then in force was suffered to 
continue. 

In America the Stamp Act was resented as a measure of arbitrary domination, an 
irritating and unreasonable form of taxation with no compensatory representation. 
Virginia was the first colony to voice the opposition to this measure, and was imme- 
diately followed by Massachusetts, which proposed a congress of delegates from the 

,_^, assemblies of all the colonies to take united action in protest. The congress met in 
1765, and as a result of this, and Pitt's scathing denunciation in England, the Stamp 

^_^^ Act was repealed early in the following year. 

The King from this time lost no opportunity of strengthening his party in 
Parliament, and by the patronage he could dispense and the intimidation of country 
boroughs, was able to control both houses and secure the enactment of his policy. 
His next measure was the levying of import duties on colonial commerce, which was 



^Tijc ^tamti Slct 



I V 



J^ - - ' '■ 



€Uttunetj- piece 




growing rapii.il v in importance, espe- MT% * . * . '^^7 

cialiv with the West Indies; and with 
England alone amounted to about six 
million pounds per year, nearly equal- 
ling the total of British commerce with 
the world at the beginning ot that 
century. This also met with bitter 
protest and was later repealed on every- 
thing but tea, which was made to bear 
the burden of the principle of English 
sovereignty. This principle was as 
clearly discerned in America as in Eng- 
land, and the renunciation of tea be- 
came a test of patriotism. Philadelphia 
had publicly denounced all traffic in 
tea, and the act had been endorsed by 
Boston when three ships laden with 
the obnoxious commodity arrived at 
the latter port. Their arrival was fol- 
lowed by indignant gatherings in Fan- 
euil Hall, and the consignees were 
forced by public opinion to promise 
that the ships would be sent back with- 
out unloading ; but this the Royal Gov- 
ernor refused to permit, and declared 
that no clearance papers would be is- 
sued until the cargoes were discharged. 
At the close of a particularly demon- 
strative meeting held at the Old South Church on the afternoon of December 
sixteenth, 1773, a party of fifty citizens, disguised as Indians, led the way to the 
wharf, and, boarding the vessels, scattered into the harbor the contents ot three 
hundred and forty-two chests, the property of the East India Company, valued in the 
neighborhood of one hundred thousand dollars. 

In consequence of this action and lesser excuses, Massachusetts was subjected to ^^^' 
a repressive policy which deprived the colonists of many liberties and was intended 
to precipitate a struggle, which the King believed would be short and decisive, tor 
the purpose of finally settling the dependence of the 
colonies and the sovereignty of England. 

The eflect of this "Port Bill," as the chief of 
these measures was called, was — as was expected — 
to confirm the colonists in their resistance, but not in 
the rash and isolated way that was hoped tor. Keen, 
powerful intellects guided the people, in the persons 
of Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, 
and others, and they immediately set about to secure 
the cooperation of the other colonies, many of which 
were ripe for action, notablv Virginia, where Patrick 







S t a m p 



SoBton rea l^arti? 



'7t>s Henry had some years earlier openly denounced British oppression, hut had lacked 
the clear issues prevalent in the Bay State. They organized a Committee of Corres- 
pondence, and, authorized by the General Assembly of Massachusetts, urged each 
1774 colony to send delegates to a congress at Philadelphia on the first of the following 
September. 

In June of that year, 1774, the port of Boston, then under the military rule of 
General Gage — who had superseded Governor Hutchinson — was closed to com- 
merce, causing a complete stagnation of business of all kinds, and much deprivation 
and suffering among the people. 

A considerable element in Parliament was strongly opposed to this cruelty, 
and champions of the cause of America were not lacking who predicted the ultimate 
ruin England would suffer from this unwarranted oppression of her own sons, to 
whom, as they urged, the sentiments of liberty were as precious, and whose strength 
of purpose was as great, as though no ocean separated them from the free institutions 
of the mother country. They were powerless, however, to check the wave of vin- 
dictiveness that now, under the fostering care of the King's favorites, was extending 
even to the people. 

The large cities, always the strongholds of advanced ideas, were still in sympathy 
with the colonists, and the spectacle is presented of the city of London, in its corporate 
capacity, subscribing one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the relief of suffering 
in Boston, caused by the acts of Parliament. These were eventful days in the New 
England town, for although the people suffered, their enthusiasm was in no way 
diminished, and they overthrew all civil institutions emanating from the crown. 

Many prominent people who had until this 



^ an e c tc^ou » t 




time reserved the right to support the King's 
government and hoped for a peaceful settle- 
ment of all troubles, now saw the serious- 
ness of the situation, and realizing the near 
approach of inevitable division, sank their 
personal regrets in love of country and joined 
heartily in the cause of liberty. 

On the fifth of September, fifty-three 
delegates assembled in Carpenter's Hall, 
Philadelphia, and under the presidency of 
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, formed a Con- 
tinental Congress. While recognizing the 
'^fji, necessity of united action, these delegates, as 
t&f a whole, had not yet reached a realization of 
the need of aggressive rebellion. The habit 
of lovaltv was too strong to be put off at 
once, and it was with a certain deference, 
albeit firmness, that they appealed to the 
King, and to the people of Great Britain, to 
withdraw the odious measures that threat- 
ened to alienate the colonies. Georgia, the 
especial prot^g^ of the King, was alone un- 
represented at this gathering, and though at 



iFCrst Continrntal (ronortsB 



j9x»n 



jSFaneuUfjall 







heart the delegates dreaded 
the culmination of events 
which their acts were for- 
warding, the congress 
adopted measures to 
strengthen the union and 
co-operation of the states, 
indorsed Massachusetts in 
its resistance, and planned 
and appointed a second 
congress to meet the fol- 
lowing May. Although 
independence was not yet 
declared, and, in the minds 
of many, was only a re- 
mote possibility, it was in 
reality inaugurated on that 
twentieth of October, 
1774, when the "Dec- 
laration of Colonial •"•-•■"-••.- 

Rights," a comprehensive document which recited the injustices of Parliament and 
asserted the right of self-government, was signed by the "American Association," 
the forerunner of the confederacy later announced as the "United States of 
America." 

As seed cast on fertile ground germinates and develops of its innate powers, so 
the American Revolution needed but the lightest sanction of administrative authority. 
Its real life was the unwavering determination of individuals and communities to meet 
squarely every issue, to see great principles behind even small aggressions, to neither 
palliate nor compromise, to rise above considerations of policy and to act from the first 
with no provision for failure and no desire for qualified victory. 

Separation from the mother country was but incidental to this struggle, and was 
only determined upon when in the progress of events it was recognized as inevitable. 
The principles of liberty for which the patriots contended were no less applicable here 
than in England itself, where their kinsmen had declared and enacted them nearly a 
century before. 

This spirit was manifest, but it was King George, with his succession of blundering 
provocations, who nourished the Revolution. Had he realized the quality of the 
resistance and listened to the entreatings of Franklin and the other colonial agents at 
Parliament, he could easily have retained that loyalism which was dear to the colon- 
ists, and the price of which was only the extension of equal liberty to his subjects at 
home and abroad. 

Although at this time the Americans were endeavoring to obtain a peaceful estab- 
lishment of their rights, they clearly perceived the need of military organization, and 
in November the ".Provincial Congress" of Massachusetts, — the General Court 777./ 
under a new name — voted to enroll twelve thousand "minute men" who were to 
be prepared to respond immediately when the conflict should begin ; later it declared 
its wish for peace, but advised preparations for war. Other colonies took similar 



Ci^t **SlmttMcan ^ssotfatfon* 




v^— « action and many minor episodes took place which are locally held 
to be the initiative ot the Revolution. December sixth, the peo- 
ple of Rhode Island seized a large quantity of ordnance in the 
batteries at Newport, in anticipation of its emplovment by the 
King's troops, and the same action was taken on the thirteenth 
by the people of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who seized and 
removed a large quantity of ammunition and ordnance then in 
the keeping of the garrison of Fort William and Mary, at New- 
castle. In the following February, the people of Salem, Mas- 
sachusetts, taking heed from the warning of their governing body, 
began preparations for defense. These were met by an expedi- 
tion from Gage's forces at Boston, and an engagement was 
narrowly averted. The real uprising, however, from which 
armed rebellion dates, was to come later at Concord and Lex- 
ington. 

Parliament had officially declared a state of rebellion existent 
in Massachusetts and embarked large reinforcements to the three 
thousand British troops in Boston, while the patriots w'atched 
every movement of the British and prepared to meet their first 
advance, which in the nature of things could not long be de- 
layed. General Gage, the British commander, realized it to be 
his duty to break up these preparations, and planned a secret 
raid on the stores and munitions which the Americans had con- 
centrated at Concord, some miles from Boston, in order that they 
might be safely outside the line of fortifications which the British 
♦"Bi^aj^ftA^iC were erecting. The plan also included the capture of John 
Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were believed to be in that 
neighborhood, and who were justly regarded as most dangerous to British interests. 
With this object troops to the number of eight hundred left Boston for Cambridge 
jyj^ shortly before midnight of April eighteenth, and with such speed as was possible, 
marched toward Lexington, on the road to Concord. They had counted on the 
secrecy of their movements to make the attainment of their object easv, but in this they 
underestimated the watchfulness and penetration of their opponents, for their purpose 
was understood in advance and measures taken to spread the alarm when they should 
actually start. 

Paul Revere had obtained the information, and he repaired to Charlestown that 
evening, there to await the signal which he had directed to be shown from the spire 
of the North Church when the soldiers were known to have started. The two 
lights, telling him that they had gone by water to Cambridge, shone out at eleven 
o'clock and started Revere on his momentous ride. He was obliged to take a cir- 
cuitous route to escape British sentinels, who challenged him and who would have cap- 
tured a less alert man. In spite of this he gained a great 
advance over the attacking force, and alarmed the country to 
Lexington, where he awakened Adams and Hancock, and 
was joined by two others in his ride toward Concord. 
They were hardly started when thev were intercepted bv 
British officers and Revere and Dawes were taken prisoners. 



©Xdpowder 
Sower 



f5atl|? %ii% 



New England Flag 




i&tOTjimx 







while Dr. Prescott, the 
third member of the party, 
jumped his horse over a 
wall and escaped to carry 
the alarm the remainder of 
the way. 

What it meant to the 
farmers was evident when, 
early in the morning, the 
regulars reached Lexington 
and found the minute-men 
drawn up on the green to 
meet them. Compared 
with the British, the patriots 
were few and were poorlv 
equipped and drilled, but 
their cause was righteous 
and they believed in it in 
the face of death. Thev, 
therefore, paid no heed to 
the demand that they dis- 
perse, but met force with force and shed the first blood of the Revolution. Eight 
Americans were killed and others wounded, and the British then continued their 
march to Concord. Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, alarmed by the 
evidences of resistance that he encountered, had sent back to Boston for reinforce- 
ments, which were hastening to his assistance. 

Their mission at Concord was accomplished mgloriously to the extent of destroy- 
ing such few stores and guns as the Americans had been unable to secrete, and they 
were about to return when they discovered the minute-men advancing from the farther 
side of the North Bridge. They essayed to cut off the approach of the Americans 
by removing the bridge, but were too late, and, being obliged to retreat or fire, chose 
the latter, and were answered by a volley which drove them from their position. This 
was the beginning of the first real fight, the passage at Lexington being hardly main- 
tained to an extent to justify that title. The farmers withdrew to such shelter as they 
could find and awaited further movements of the regulars, who started about noon 
for their return to Boston. Their march was the signal for renewed firing by the 
Americans, who followed them, and from the shelter of stone walls and trees de- 
livered a harassing and destructive fire. 

Thoroughly routed, they were fast being reduced when they were met by 
the advancing reinforcements, one thousand men under Lord Percy, and for a while 
they rested under this protection. The remainder of the retreat, even with the 
greatly increased force, was a repetition of the beginning, and when they finally 
arrived in Charlestown, and under the guns of the British ships, they were in 
almost a panic. 

Thus began the Revolution; and the alarm carried by Paul Revere was extended 
in all directions until every road leading to Concord was filled with minute-men 
hastening to reinforce their compatriots. They remained in waiting a few days. 



(toncovXf unXf HtvinQton 



iff A, ^XW .«*- 4^ « V% .< 



but no further attack being made they returned tu their homes for completer organ- 
ization and equipment. They realized that the struggle which was now begun meant 
systematic operations of defense, for which they were as yet unprepared, and an 
army was recruited and established in Cambridge to be ready for such action as 
might be necessary. 

In the meantime the Massachusetts delegation to the second Congress had 
journeyed, in a succession of ovations, to Philadelphia, and were assured of the approval 
and support of the intervening colonies. May tenth, the day this Congress opened, 
'775 was signalized, though the members knew not of it, by the capture of Ticonderoga 
by an expedition from Connecticut under Colonel Ethan Allen, and a large quantity 
of ammunition and ordnance was turned over to the army. Events were moving 
rapidly without Congress, but it was essential that there be a central authority to out- 
line the policy to be pursued and provide means for effecting it. Even now Con- 
gress distrusted its own right to be, and repeated its supplications to George III to 
settle without further bloodshed the differences that existed. 

These entreatings evidence the reluctance of the delegates to forswear their 
allegiance to England, but the fact that they nevertheless took such measures as were 
possible to organize and equip an army is proof also of their steadiness of purpose and 
desperate belief in the worthiness of their cause. 

The first important act of Congress was the appoint- 
ment of George Washington, one of the delegates from 
Virginia, commander-in-chief of the American army, 
which was then, to the number of upwards of fifteen thou- 
sand men, encamped in the vicinity of Boston. 

This army, recruited by the Provincial Congress 
of Massachusetts, was made up of the minute-men who 
had risen on the alarm of Lexington, but who had, in the 
meantime, returned to their homes for reorganization, and 
later volunteers, with considerable reinforcements from 
neighboring states, notably New Hampshire and Con- 
necticut ; and under the leadership 
of officers whose names are now the 
foundations of Revolutionary history, 
was besieging Boston and planning to 
drive out the British, or at least to 
prevent them from increasing their 
holdings. 

While Washington was preparing 
to start for New England, events in 
Boston were rapidly shaping them- 
selves for the active operations of war. 
General Gage, the British commander, 
-" was forced to take measures to 

maintain his position, and determined to forestall the Americans in the occupation of 
Charlestown, across the river, and so near his headquarters that he was liable at any 
time to be subjected to a harassing fire. His plans were disturbed, however, by the dis- 
covery, on the morning of June seventeenth, of fortifications which the Americans had 



Cl)urct) 




'775 




S((ontr <i!ron0t(00 



(f^tOTS^inrx 



Bedford I glasiai. 




thrown up on Bunker Hill in one short night. 
It had become known to the American 
commanders that Gage contemplated moving 
on the eighteenth, and over a thousand hardy 
and intelligent men, under skilltu! direction, 
worked with pick and shovel trum the settling 
of darkness on the sixteenth to the dawn of 
the seventeenth, and then, with slight rein- 
forcements, awaited the attack of the British. 
Prescott, Warren, Stark, and Knowlton 
were among the American commanders, and 
by their personal bravery and perseverance 
they sustained the courage of their men, with 
the result that the British attacking force of 
three thousand, with all its perfect equip- 
ment, was twice repulsed with fearful loss, 
and onlv yielded to after a third destructive 
charge, and when the last round of their 
meagre ammunition was exhausted. Under the cover ot a protecting fire from a line 
of auxiliary defense, a part of the original plan, the Americans retreated and left the 
British in possession of one of the most dearly bought battle-fields of history. The 
British loss was enormous, and this engagement prevented further aggression beyond 
the limits of their original holding. It also resulted in the superseding of Gage by 
General Howe, as commander of all the British forces. The news of this battle 
reached Washington soon after he had left Philadelphia, and aroused in him con- 
fidence in the eventual success of the American cause. He arrived in the vicinity 
of Boston on July second, and on the third took command of the troops drawn up on 
Cambridge common. 

This army, though considerable in numbers and overflowing with patriotism, was 
lacking in military organization, and to the task of drilling and uniting it, and also 
supplying ammunition and further equipment, Washington applied himself through the 
summer and following winter, while maintaining a close siege over the British in 
Boston. Early in March, I 776, under the cover of a bombardment from his base '77^ 
of operations, Washington secretly marched a large body of men to Dorchester 
Heights, a commanding position on the opposite side of Boston, and one of ex- 
treme menace to the British. The latter awoke on the morning of March fifth, to 
find a repetition of the frowning embankments that had spurred them to action on 
Bunker Hill, this time on the landward side of the town, though separated from it 
by a small bay. 

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Howe made preparations for attack, but 
unfavorable weather prevailed for a day or two, giving the Americans opportunity for 

strengthening their position, and after 
some davs of hesitation, the British 
evacuated Boston, sailing away on March 
seventeenth, and carrying with them 
about a thousand Tories, whom they 






/■-■;■ •;.•.■> 'STAtjp-VouR OROI/ND 

' ■ OONT FlRt UNLeSS FIRED UPON 



/;■■ C,:- OONT FlRt UNLeSS FIRED UPON ,f#(,v 

/^.J^^~-eUTlf THEY MEAN TO HAVE A Mttii ' ' 
'■"■■ ^S'-- ItT ITetCIN HERE 




oullJer on Lexington 
G r t en 



Ift Btntc^ovL0t 



transported with their goods to Halifax. 
7776 ^^ * ** c*' I »♦ ». «; ^^ V t* 19 1; New England, the birthplace of the 

Revolution, was thus saved to the Ameri- 
cans, and freed, for the most part, from 
further strife in the barely awakened 
cause. 

Washington, from time of taking com- 
mand of the army, was the centre of inter- 
est, and the course of the Revolution was 
chiefly with the troops under his personal 
direction ; but it is necessary, in even an 
outline of the war, to note certain secon- 
dary expeditions and lesser incidents in 
progress at the time when Washington 
was encamped before Boston. 

Canada was recognized from the first, 
by the American leaders, as a menace to 
the unity of the colonies by reason of 
the possibilities it offered as a base for 
operations through the valley of the Hud- 
son to the sea-coast, which would isolate 
New England and prevent its intercom- 
munication, either offensive or defensive, 
with other sections. To obviate this 
danger, Washington early decided to at- 
tempt the conquest of Canada, and organized two expeditions, to travel different 
routes and meet at Quebec for a joint assault. 

One under Montgomery passed up Lake Champlain and captured Montreal and 
intervening points. The other under Benedict Arnold embarked at Newburyport, 
and then, following the Kennebec River, and through the wilderness beyond, reached 
Quebec in December, 1775, after a journey of extraordinary difficulty and hardship. 
Montgomery, with but a remnant of his forces, soon arrived, and with those of Arnold 
— also greatly diminished — formed an attacking body of but little over a thousand 
men, to assault a city noted for its strong situation and elaborate fortifications. The 
attempt, though gallant and for a time encouraging, failed with the death of Mont- 
gomery and wounding of Arnold ; and although held besieged by the latter for 
the rest of the winter, the city remained in the possession of the British, and 
in the spring the Americans were forced, by the approach of a powerful relief 
^77^ expedition under Sir Guy Carleton, to abandon their advantage and leave Canada 
for good and all. 

At this time the British were using their ships, against which we could as yet 
oppose none, to harass outlying ports, and with apparently no plan other than the 
resulting terror and apprehension in all coast towns. Falmouth, Maine, now Port- 
land, was bombarded and then burned ; and the British, at the instigation of Lord 
^77S Dunmore, Governor of the Province, attacked Hampton, Virginia, and later Nor- 
folk. At both places they were repulsed, but Norfolk suffered heavily from bombard- 
ment and fire. Patriotism in the South was further stimulated by an attack on 




(auttiet ^vptXHtion 



(6ie0rjjiatt 



u 



Charleston, South Carolina, a few months later. A large fleet under Admiral Parker, 
with General Clinton for military commander, was organized to take that city 
and subdue the surrounding country ; news of this plan reached South Carolina, and 
active preparations were made to resist the invasion. Troops of militia, local and 
from neighboring states, occupied all available positions, and a fort of palmetto-wood 
was erected on Sullivan's Island and manned by five hundred men under Colonel 
Moultrie. This fort was the chief defense of the city and was relied upon to with- '77(> 
stand the brunt of the attack, although it was by some considered entirely inadequate 
for the purpose. 

Early in June the British, in upwards of thirty vessels, arrived at the entrance to 
the harbor, but with characteristic delay, it was four weeks before they were ready to 
attack. Clinton's forces were rendered ineffective by being stupidly disembarked on a 
sand-bar from which they expected to cross to Sullivan's Island, but to which there was 
no practicable ford. Parker opened fire on Fort Sullivan with six ships, and after 
an engagement lasting all day, was obliged to withdraw what remained of his fleet 
and give up the attempt. It was a most notable victory for American courage and 
perseverance under almost overwhelming odds, and it raised Colonel Moultrie to 
a place among the greatest heroes of the war. An incident of this battle was the 
heroism of Sergeant Jasper in replanting on the bastion the colors which had been 
shot away. 

As the evacuation of Boston had practically ended the war in New England, so 
the defeat at Charleston freed the South from further molestation for some years, and 
removed the centre of strife to the Middle States, where less determined resistance 
was to be feared. Washington, realizing that the British would turn to New York as 
their logical base of operations, removed his army to that place soon after the taking 
of Boston, and made preparations to defend the city as well as his inadequate and 
poorly equipped army might be able to. Congress, which had mainly directed its 
efforts to additional attempts to secure peaceful recognition from King George, had 
utterly failed, through inability or inattention, to provide for the increase or sustenance 
of the army, and was at any time liable to disruption from the growing differences of 
delegates as to the policy to be pursued. There was, as vet, no union, and therefore 
no responsible government which could organize internal affairs and collect funds. 
This condition, coupled with the vanishing of hope of any concession from the King, 
who had declared the colonists rebels and announced his determination to crush them, 
emphasized the need of a basis for a permanent government ; and after some hesitation 

on the part of representatives of a few states, '77(> 
it was voted, on the second of July, 1776, to 
announce to the world the principles for which 
the American people were contending. A com- 
mittee, of which Thomas Jefferson, a delegate 
from Virginia, recently arrived, was chosen 
chairman, was appointed to formulate the declara- 
tion, the writing of which was entrusted to Jef- 
ferson. The result of his labor and the delib- 
erations of the committee, was the Declaration of 
Independence, laid before Congress on the fourth 
of July and unanimously accepted. 




M a s I a c h u I e 1 1 s 



^tiarUstotf 



i77(> iSSiN This forceful and inspiring document attracted the 

attention of the civilized world, and made possible the 
union subsequently effected. It has maintained, and will 
ever hold, its position as the most revered and precious 
relic of American history ; and it is one of the evidences 
ot the quality of mind and character which the early 
patriots brought to the cause of liberty. 

From Philadelphia, where the people awaited breath- 
lessly the peal of the State House bell, which should 
"Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, to all the 
inhabitants thereof"; through New York, where the 
message was read to the troops drawn up on the Common, 
and was boisterously celebrated by the populace, which 
demonstrated its patriotism by tearing from the pedestal 
on Bowling Green an equestrian statue of George III, of 
gilded lead, that from glorifying the King was turned 
against him in the form of rebel bullets ; to Boston, 
where, in some ways it meant more than it elsewhere 
could — • the acceptance by the united colonies of the 
cause nurtured on Boston's wrongs — the country hailed 
with enthusiasm this brilliant crystalization by its ablest 
representatives, in solemn congress assembled, of the sen- 
timents which for months had fired individuals every- 
where, but had lacked the official approval of the leaders. 
A large measure of this unanimity was due to the wide- 
spread appreciation of Paine's "Common-Sense," pub- 
lished the previous winter, in which Thomas Paine, an 
Englishman who had been in this country but a short 
time, grasped and set forth in convincing style, the prin- 
ciples involved in the struggle with the mother country, 
and the reasons why rebellion was just and right. Paine 
showed the people what they sought and needed ; Congress declared it an accom- 
plished fact and bestirred in its defense. 

Meanwhile the cause in the field was experiencing misfortunes and disasters cal- 
culated to weaken its popularity, and was only saved from extermination by Wash- 
ington's ability to successively extricate his armv from seemingly overwhelming 
situations. He had established himself in New York and Brooklyn with the ten 
J^^6 thousand troops that represented all that was available 
— many of that number for but a short period onlv — of 
the army brought from Boston, and endeavored to hold 
in check the large and powerful armies under Howe and 
Clinton, the latter having reached there from his defeat 
at Charleston, supported by powerful ships of war. 
His detachments on Long Island under Sullivan and Stir- 
ling were badly routed, and the situation there was 
strongly against him, when Washington brought over rJi cpL^.:^i 




Statue of 
Captain li^atljan 
i$ a \ t b p 
asacnionnicjtf 



New H amp s h i ri 



Beclstation of 








reintorcements and en- . >»* *. »aa 

gaged in preparing for- .^]!^M^ (Pltt iPaT (Dffite, If etjaUOU 

tifications, as tiiough ^ifcS^^^iJf^rjg^c^ *=* /«• ,^ 

intending a continu- V--.<jt*;?iaKJsO-a ,«fcS^^^»ja=»^ _ .„ Vj-WW** 

ance of operations ; but 
the next morning, Au- 
gust t wen t v-nin th, 
found the place utterly 
deserted, his army hav- 
ing been ferried across 
to New York under 
cover of the night and 
abeneficentfog. Colo- 
nel Glover's Marblehead fishermen accomplished this feat for Washington, and the 
British, who surrounded the Americans and expected an easy and decisive victory, 
were doomed to disappointment. Thev, however, knew their strength and Wash- 
ington's weakness, and assailed him on all sides of the stand taken in New York, 
driving him in a few days to Harlem Heights. Washington's personal bravery as 
he rode among his panic-stricken men was the slender thread by which he was 
enabled to finally withdraw his troops. 

It was especially desirable at this time that some knowledge be obtained of the 
intended movements of the British, and Washington accepted the services of Captain 
Nathan Hale of Connecticut, who volunteered to visit the enemy's camp as a spy. 
He penetrated the British lines and obtained the information without discovery, but 
on his way back was recognized and arrested by a Tory relative. He was taken 
before Howe and sentenced to death, and was executed September twenty-second. 
Every benefit of humanity and religion was denied him, yet he met his death with 
high courage, and his last words, "I only regret that I have but one life to give 
for my country," have become immortal. 

In the face of his retreat, Washington sent detachments to check the advance of 
the enemy's outposts, and after sharp fighting drove them back to the main lines. 
The American position was here fairly strong, but not strong enough to warrant 
Washington in risking his army ; so on the further advance of the British, he seized 
favorable points and held them in check until he could again retreat, this time to 
White Plains, on the bank of the Bronx River. 

Once more the British under Howe thought to crush the American forces and 
end the war, and once more, after a sharp engagement, the Americans succeeded in 
escaping and establishing themselves in a stronger 
position at North Castle. Forts Washington and 
Lee, which defended the Hudson River at Harlem, 
were left garrisoned with the expectation of their 
being able to hold the position ; but the British 
having obtained, through the treachery of a deserter 
from Fort Washington, complete information as to 
the strength and arrangement of that fortification, 
it was successfully assaulted on November sixteenth. 




Connecticut 



177(1 



177b 



Xattjan H^alr 



and two thousand men taken pris- 
oners. This loss, with General 
jyjf) ^v\. ^ V '■ Lee's disobedience in withholding, 

on the other side of the Hudson, 
the large body of troops under his 
command, left Washington in a 
desperate situation. His armv was 
reduced through these causes, and 
the expiration of the terms of enlist- 
ment of many of the militia, to the 
neighborhood of three thousand 
men, and continual discharges and 
desertions, with the failure ot efforts 
to secure re-enlistments or tresh re- 
cruits, threatened to leave but a 
fraction of that number. Fortu- 
nately at this time General Lee's 
troops were brought in by General 
Sullivan, the former having been 
taken prisoner while at a distance 
from his army. 

The British, holding all the 
important points captured, contin- 
ued their advance to Trenton and 
occupied that place preparatory to 
marching on Philadelphia, but later 
abandoned that part of the plan. 
The fear of this disaster was intense 
in Philadelphia, and Congress con- 
sidered it necessary to adjourn to Baltimore, after vesting the entire control of the 
war in Washington; a compliment which would have been more appreciated had it 
brought greater opportunities instead of adding to the perplexities ot that general. 
He watched the enemy from a safe distance while exerting himself strenuously to 
strengthen his armv, though with little success. The misfortunes which made the 
necessity most urgent operated against his efforts, and no enthusiasm could be aroused 
for an apparently failing cause. Little as the prospect offered, he realized that some- 
thing must be done, and done quickly, or the new year would find him almost with- 
out men. 
7776 Bold as the plan seemed when the possibilities were considered, Washington 

made up his mind to attack Trenton, and despatched several detachments to diverse 
points to ensure the surrounding of the enemy. Christmas night w'as the time settled 
upon for the assault, and Washington, with twenty-four hundred men, arrived at the 
bank of the Delaware in a fierce storm of snow and sleet, to find the river swollen 
and filled with swiftlv-moving ice. To a lesser man the difficulties would have been 
insuperable, as they appeared to his aides, to whom the duty was intrusted of attacking 
from other points, and who failed to cross. To Washington it meant but the call 




<?rarvfi^terdi^ all 



^mrtfcjin TLt^%%%% 



i&tors^i^n 




= '77i!> 



UNITE OR DIE 

" ' IM..IUII.IIIII»l.l.llin....l ......I.MM ,„,|, || |..,.,„„„,lMllirMIII I,IMM»»1 



for greater effort, and, 1 I I I I I III II I II III MI III I IIIII I I II)I I II I I)III II I I I II II II IIII I I I MII I I I M I II I I I II| I I I I I I I |IIIIII II II II I |I |I II MII III III|I III I |I |.j 
encouraged by his ex- 
ample and guided by the 
hardy fishermen of Mar- 
biehead, the troops were 
safelv, though with great 
difficulty, transported to 
the Trenton side, where 
they set out upon an ex- 
hausting march to the 
town, regardless of the 
storm and the pains of 
travel on the f r o z e n 
ground. Colonel Rahl 
had been warned that Washington was planning an attack, but, as usual, affected to 
despise his opponent, and the twelve hundred Hessians were in the midst of a 
characteristic Christmas celebration from which all thought of the enemy was 
banished, when the fbut-sore and wearied Americans burst upon them. Rahl's men, 
thoroughly panic-stricken, offered little or no resistance, and in attempting to rally 
them their commander was shot down. A few were killed and some escaped, but 
about one thousand, with all their artillery and stores, were made prisoners and taken 
in triumph to Philadelphia. 

Washington lost no time, after this inspiring victor)', in following up the advantage 
gained, and returning with fresh troops, re-occupied Trenton. Howe felt heavily the 
loss of prestige and men resulting from the defeat of Christmas night, and once more 
determined to overwhelm the meagre army of Washington and terminate the harassing 
rebellion. To this end Lord Cornwallis, with seven thousand men, set. out from 
Princeton, January second. They were met on the road by detachments of Americans '777 
sent out to retard their movement, and slowly driving the skirmishers before them, 
made their wav to Trenton. 

The main body of the American army was entrenched just outside the town, on 
the further bank of the Assanpink, and here the British prepared to attack. An at- 
tempt to cross the bridge was repulsed, and Cornwallis contented himself for that day 
with cannonading the enemv from the opposite shore, and planning to assault them on 
the following morning when reinforced. The British habit of delay at critical junc- 
tures had before given Washington opportunity to extricate his army from dangerous 
situations, and he took advantage of it on this occasion to abandon his position on the 
Assanpink and march on Princeton — where Cornwallis had left three regiments of his 
army — from whence he hoped to pass to Brunswick and capture the large quantity of 
British stores known to be there. With his usual adroitness. Washing- 
withdrew undetected by the army on the opposite bank, which 
arded the brightly burning camp-fires, kindled for the purpose, as 
louhted evidence of the continued presence of the Americans, 
nceton was reached early on the morning of January third, and 
the British troops were encountered 
'"'■>> — >S^ just as they were leaving to join 

"' U £ rti r a t rut nam s 
'^^^^■'''^''^i^ %^ Plough 

a; t en t n 




16 



(^tors^x^^n 




©IJr jwm tNTttopotrt 3X, K. 



Cornwallis. A battle en- 
lued, which, though at 
times apparently in favor 
of the British — owing to 
the inability of the Ameri- 
cans, through lack of 
equipment, to meet bay- 
onet charges — resulted 
finally in a splendid vic- 
tory for Washington, 
whose personal valor and 
encouragement strength- 
ened his men and turned 
the balance to his side. 
The British fled to Bruns- 
wick, but the day was so 
far spent that Washington 
deemed it unwise to at- 
tack that place, and after 
destroying the bridges be- 
tween his army and that 
of Cornwallis, withdrew to Somerset Court House, and thence to Morristown, 
where he went into winter quarters. Cornwallis, discomfited at his failure at Tren- 
ton and the defeat of his troops at Princeton, returned to Brunswick to protect his 
magazines, and suspended operations for the winter. 

The effect of these victories on the country and the outside world was to raise the 
American cause from the lowest ebb of discouragement to enthusiastic support at home 
and increased respect abroad. France, though yet unwilling to openly favor this coun- 
try, was secretly sending supplies, and from that country and Germany and Prussia 
came able and devoted officers to assist our cause. Recruiting became easier and re- 
enlistments frequent, enabling Washington to greatly strengthen his army and prepare 
for a renewal of the struggle with the coming of spring. 

Events moved slowly at this time, a condition to which the American cause in the 
field was frequently indebted, and yet the forces at work were making for results soon 
to place the struggle for independence on a basis of international recognition and 
eventual support. After declaring independence. Congress had dispatched emissaries to 
the courts of Europe, and especially to France, where the sympathy of progressive 
leaders established the cause in substantial favor. Many of the ablest members were 
thus employed, or were called to their homes to direct the sustaining operations of the 
war, so that the representation left was appreciably inferior as 
a whole, and of little real assistance as an executive body. It 
was inadequate to the task of supporting the army or of adding 
materially to its numbers, and its financial system, lacking 
bassi and credit, was a failure from the start. To the army 
it commissioned officers in many cases incompetent ; and 
through a misunderstanding of facts, or unduly influenced by 



Rhode Island 



Drintrton 




(Sieorjgi^^n 



P asttingto n'9 




interested parties, it superseded competent generals at critical times and placed inferior 
men in command. Lacking official support, the Revolution was sustained by 
popular contribution through the state leaders, the work of Robert Morris, of Phila- 
delphia, being especially memorable, and of inestimable service to Washington in 
his efforts to hold together and strengthen his army. 

Connecticut bore a generous share in equipping and sustaining the troops, and at 
this time suffered locally from the proximity of the British quartered at New York. 
On April twenty-sixth, 1777, Governor Tryon of New York, with two thousand 
British and Tories, attacked and burned Danbury, and destroyed a large quantity of 
American stores. On the following day the militia, under Generals Wooster, Arnold, ^ 
and Silliman, forced Tryon to the coast after an engagement at Ridgefield, and the 
British embarked under heavy fire. General Wooster, a veteran of seventy years, 
was mortally wounded. A month later the Americans under Colonel Meigs retal- 
iated by crossing from Connecticut to Sag Harbor, on Long Island, where they 
burned twelve British vessels and destroyed stores, bringing back ninety prisoners with- 
out the loss of a man. 

Another incident illustrative of the daring and adroitness of the American soldiers 
was the capture of General Prescott, commander of the British forces in the neighbor- 
hood of Rhode Island, whose tyranny had excited the indignation of the people. On 
the night of July tenth. Lieutenant Barton of Providence, with forty men, stealthily 
approached Prescott's headquarters by water, and, overpowering the sentinel, 
secured Prescott, who was in bed, and escaped before the alarm spread to the troops. 



lla{^0 in Connrrtirut 



(&t0 




Congress recog- 
nized this act by- 
promoting Barton 
to the rank of colo- 
nel and presenting 
him a sword. 

Spring brought 
a renewal of activ- 
ity in the armies 
facing each other in 
the South, and in 
the North it saw 
the development of 
a plan to effect the 
■» 1 -iv ** separation of New 

^ttX^dtOtlgl.^, England from the 
..i.-Ti^i;;.-— .:_. • ,w. ^ n-^ « rw Other States. This 

'^" f aU^teetVbUr$ -gOUde had bng been rec- 

'" ognized as an im- 

pending possibility, and the division of the North under General Schuvler, though 
weak in numbers, was so placed as to offer the utmost resistance to the anticipated move- 
ment. Lake Champlain, the natural path of such invasion, had, the previous sum- 
mer, been the scene of a strenuous, if not mighty, struggle with the same object, when 
'77^ Benedict Arnold had, by dint of extraordinary effort, created a flotilla, effectively armed 
and manned, with which he vigorously contested Sir Guy Carleton's ascent of the 
lake ; and, while ultimately forced to retreat, so delayed and crippled the enemy that 
the British expedition was fruitless for that season, so far as the main object was con- 
cerned. The ground thus gained was held, and served Sir John Burgovne, the suc- 
cessor of Carleton, to launch with great pomp in June, 1777, an army of eight 
thousand men, including Indians — now for the first time employed — • which main- 
tained its triumphant progress only so long as the waters of the lake formed the line 
of passage. They erected fortifications on Mt. Defiance, near Ticonderoga, from 
which commanding position they were able to throw a destructive fire into the fort ; 
and General St. Clair, who occupied the post with somewhat less than three thou- 
sand ill-armed troops, abandoned it on the night of July fifth, and undertook to join 
Schuyler at Fort Edward. The British started after him and several times engaged 
his rear guard, but at the end of a week the Americans succeeded in reaching 
^777 Schuyler, though with the loss of some men and a considerable amount of baggage, 
captured by the British at Skenesboro. At this point the struggle with natural con- 
ditions began, which ofFered, difficult as it was, the only means by which Burgoyne 
could pass to Albany, where he hoped to meet forces under Howe, which \vere to 
come up the Hudson and thus dominate the line from Canada to Long Island. 
Schuyler, realizing the overwhelming force of the invading army, fell back in slow 
retreat, destroying the only road as he passed, burning bridges and clogging streams, 
besides devastating the country of everything that could be utilized to sustain an army. 
Under these circumstances Burgoyne's progress, with all the facilities of a thoroughly 
equipped army, was only about one mile a day, and the Americans were enabled to 



l$ut0Qsn('6 fSvvtfUtlon 



«!::* 



orjgia^n 



keep well out of reach until reinforcements and a favorable situation should enable 
them to make a stand. 

A strong detachment of the invaders, under St. Leger, had been sent to the west- 
ward to take Fort Stanwix, held by General Ganesvoort. They met with determined 
resistance, and vigorous fighting took place at the fort, and at Oriskanev, where ,—,y 
General Herkimer, who had come to the relief of Ganesvoort with a large following 
of frontiersmen, fell into an ambush ot the enemy. The brave general was mortally 
wounded early in the engagement, but with great fortitude continued to direct the 
battle and succeeded in routing the British, who, however, continued to maintain the 
siege. After some weeks ineffectually spent, they were frightened into a precipitate 
retreat by news of the approach of Arnold with reinforcements, and made their way 
to Canada, minus everything that tended to impede flight. 

Burgoyne, experiencing to the full the difficulties imposed by Schuyler, felt the 
need of provisions, and detached a party of six hundred, under Colonel Baum, to raid 
the country in what is now Vermont, and capture stores held at Bennington. This 
party was met near Bennington by the farmers, who had hastily gathered under 
General Stark, and defeated with the loss of their baggage and artillery. Another 
partv of equal numbers which had been sent out a few days afterward to reinforce 
the first, came up a few hours later and suffered like defeat. More than half the 
British were taken prisoners, and upwards of two hundred killed, leaving but a third 
to make its way back to the main army. These misfortunes were rapidly bringing 
Burgoyne to a realization of the doubtfulness of final success, which success would 
have appeared still more remote could he have known, as he did later, that Howe's 
orders had been so delayed that no help could reach him from that quarter in season 
to avail. 

The American victories at Oriskaney and Bennington spread confidence through- 
out the country, and troops gathered to the support of the northern armv, which 
Congress, with great injustice to Schuvler, now placed under the command of 
General Horatio Gates, a soldier much inferior to the former in ability and attain- 
ments. Gates reaped the benefit of all the hard work done by Schuyler, and entered 
upon his command under most favorable conditions. Burgoyne, pressed for supplies 
and threatened in his rear by General Lincoln — who with two thousand troops was 
even then retaking Ticonderoga — was on the downward slope of effectiveness, while 
the American army was constantly receiving reinforcements, — among which were 
Morgan's Virginia riflemen sent bv Washington, — and with Arnold returned from 
Fort Stanwix, was daily gaining strength and courage, and numbered about three 
thousand men to thirty-five hundred of the British. Gates, after a delay of several ,jyj 
weeks, established himself at Bemis Heights, 
on the west bank of the Hudson, and awaited 
the enemy. They arrived on September nine- 
teenth, and on the following dav attacked the 
Americans in their full strength. Gates proved 
utterly inefficient, watching the battle from the 
rear without taking part in it, and the conduct 
of the fight devolved upon the regimental com- 
manders, among whom Arnold was the dom- 
inant figure. The battle continued until dark- 




Niw Tork 



)9rnnfn0t<in 



(&t0TQi 



'777 




©Id Senate fjouse 



>fiiS jii'-^ ^ <• ness, when the Ameri- 

cans drew off to their in- 
trenchments, leaving the 
British in possession of 
their ground, but suffer- 
ing from a severe repulse, 
their loss being double 
that of the Continentals. 
This was the begin- 
ning of the end with Bur- 
go yne. On October 
seventh he made another 
attempt to break the 
American lines, taking 
fifteen hundred of his best 
troops ; but his columns 
were stubbornlv met, and 
finally, with Morgan, Dearborn, and Arnold leading, the Americans routed the 
British and drove them to their intrenched camp, where the fighting was continued 
until stopped by darkness. Arnold was on the field without authority, he having 
been deprived of his command by Gates, but was unable to restrain his ardor, and 
placed himself at the head of his old division, which he mspired to brilliant service; 
he was badly wounded in the later attack. 

The British were now in a desperate situation; beaten and hopeless of reinforce- 
ment they sought to retreat through Saratoga, but found themselves surrounded by 
the gathering Americans, and a few days later Burgoyne gave up the attempt and 
opened negotiations for surrender. The document was signed October sixteenth, 
and by it an army of nearly six thousand, with all equipments, was turned over to 
Gates, and the long-cherished plan to control the line from Canada to the mouth of 
the Hudson came finally to naught. Clinton, in pursuance of belated orders, had 
started to Burgoyne's assistance, but his enthusiasm waned after capturing Forts Mont- 
gomery and Clinton, and contenting himself with sending a detachment to raid King- 
ston, which was burned October thirteenth, he returned to New York, leaving the 
North, when rid of Burgoyne, in undisputed possession of the Americans. News of 
this triumph was of inestimable help to the American cause in Europe, and created a 
prestige that made possible the French Alliance. 

Washington, though not active in this northern campaign, was none the less a 
factor in its success, as his watchfulness and employment of Howe and his army in 
'777 the Middle South was largely for the purpose of maintaining the separation of the 
British forces, which he knew to be essential to Ameri- 
can victory on the Hudson. While Burgoyne was 
embarking, with so much 6clat, his ill-fated expedition, 
Washington, who had removed from his winter 
quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, to Middlebrook, 
was endeavoring to check Howe's advance without 
hazarding his small army in open battle. Howe, 
tiring of these tactics, returned to New York, where. 



A^^ 



Saratoga 



7' 




(gjeorjBi^n 



21 



'-ri.<?> 




Monument to ^udre's capture 

on lulv twenty-third, he embarked eighteen thousand men with a view of reaching 
Philadelphia by water. Washington discovered his motive and immediately marched 
his troops to that place, hoping to reassure the people before engaging the enemy. 
His army in point of effectiveness numbered about ten thousand, though in actual 
numbers several thousand more, and among his officers was the Marquis de Lafayette, 
a young French nobleman, who, filled with sympathy and enthusiasm for the cause 
of the colonies, had, in spite of the disapproval of his king, reached this country with 
Baron de Kalb, a German veteran, and was by Congress commissioned Major- 
General. Lafayette endeared himself to Washington and to the army, and became, 
next to Washington, one of the most prominent figures in the war. 

Howe, finding the Delaware fortified against him, entered Chesapeake Bay and 
landed his army at Elktun, Maryland, about fifty miles from Philadelphia. From 
this point he marched toward the city, reaching Chad's Ford, on the Brandywine — 
where the Americans were encamped — September eleventh. The resulting battle 
was disastrous to the patriots, and although well planned and bravely fought, ended 
at night in their retreat to Chester, and later to the neighborhood of Philadelphia. 
Count Pulaski, a Polish volunteer, distinguished himself in this action and was sub- 
sequently commissioned Brigadier General by Congress, in recognition of his gal- 
lantry. 

Washington, though defeated, still hoped to keep the British from Philadelphia, 
and prepared to engage them again near Goshen, but was prevented by a severe 
storm, and was then forced to withdraw to Reading to protect his stores, which were 
threatened by the enemy. He left General Wayne with fifteen hundred men to 
check the advance on Philadelphia, but the latter was surprised by a midnight attack 
and driven back with considerable loss, leaving the city open to the invaders, who 



nn 



)|i^ilatreltfi^fa 



Jt^ 




entered September twenty-sixth. 
Fearing this result. Congress had 
removed, some days before, to Lan- 
caster, from which a few days later 
it moved to York, where it remained 
during the British occupancy of the 
capital. 

The danger to Reading having 
passed, Washington resolved on an- 
other attack, and with two thousand 
five hundred reinforcements he en- 
gaged the British troops stationed at 
Germantown, near Philadelphia; 
but through the failure of militia on 
which he relied, the effort was de- 
feated after a severe struggle, in 
which the American loss was heavy. 
Forts Mifflin and Mercer, the for- 
mer on Mud Island, in the Dela- 
ware, and the latter at Red Bank, 
New Jersey, were still held by the 
Americans, who had established 
them to protect Philadelphia from 
naval attack. These the British as- 
saulted with the aid of the fleet from Chesapeake Bay, and after a determined 
but hopeless resistance the Americans were forced to evacuate, November eighteenth, 
leaving the harbor unobstructed for the passage of British ships. To close a season 
disastrous in its immediate results, Washington, early in December, went into win- 
ter quarters at Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill, and struggled to maintain the organ- 
ization of his army under conditions which would have been insurmountable to 
another general, or with an army striving for a lesser end. 

The cause of independence experienced its darkest days in that memorable camp. 
Thousands of men were unable to leave the rude huts they had built for shelter, for 
'777 lack of clothing to cover them; they were reduced to the barest extremity for food, 
and yet their patriotism and faith in their commander triumphed over these miseries 
and sustained them until spring, when a turn of fortune brought once more the neces- 
saries of life and comfortable equipment. During the long winter, Washington 
suffered not only the anguish of sympathy for his starving troops, but from the ma- 
chinations of envious and disgruntled subordinates, and the criticism of some of the 
leaders in Congress. It was hoped, by a considerable faction, to supersede Wash- 
ington by Gates — the latter' s victory over Bur- 
goyne being contrasted with Washington's cam- 
paign about Philadelphia — and sufficient support 
was obtained to secure control of the Board of 
War, which, with Gates at the head, was a 
source of annoyance and affront to Washington, 
while it utterly failed in its duties of providing for 
the army. 

D ei aw ar e 

TaUej? iFot0e 




^ieorjgi^n 



While these conditions existed at the seat of war, forces wgre elsewhere woricing 
for speedy and permanent improvement. The King of France, overborne by his 
ministers, had signed early in February a treaty of alliance and commerce, acknowl- 
edging the independence of the American Colonies. This meant money and ships 
and ready supplies, besides establishing the United States on a recognized footing at 
the capitals of Europe. The victory at Saratoga, which had encouraged France to '77^ 
this action, had startled England into a belated concession of privileges, which a peace 
commission was sent over to propose; but the time for such measures was past and 
they were rejected by Congress, which declared that no proposals would be enter- 
tained except on a basis of complete independence and the withdrawal of British 
troops. This, of course, was not contemplated, and the commission ingloriously re- 
turned. The action of France was regarded by England as a declaration of war, and 
preparations were made for strengthening the situation of the troops in America. 
General Howe, who, it was realized, had done nothing more than seize upon com- 
fortable winter quarters for his army, was recalled and superseded by General 
Clinton. Philadelphia being of no military value to the British without a line of 
communication with the main army at New York, it was decided to abandon it ere 
the French fleet could come to the assistance of Washington's army and force the 
evacuation. In pursuance of these orders Clinton, who had assumed command the 
latter part of May, so hastened preparations that on June eighteenth he left the city 
and started his army across New Jersey. 

Washington, whose patience and endurance the winter had so severely tried, was 
now well equipped, thanks to the efforts of Greene, who in March, as quartermaster- 
general, succeeded the incompetent Board of War ; the spring levies had filled his 
ranks, and best of all, his army, which had been drilled all winter by Baron Steuben 
— a distinguished Prussian officer — was now for the first time in perfect training. 
Under such gratifying conditions it is not strange that Washington wished to inter- 
cept Clinton and 

|Fot t ^ ttt 



match his strength 
against the British ; 
but a council of his 
officers by their dis- 
approval so delayed 
him, that, though 
he finally overruled 
their decision, Clin- 
ton was then so far 
advanced that to 
overtake him re- 
quired extraordin- 
ary e ff o r t , and 
forced the troops to 
a fatiguing march, 
which at the last 
became so hurried 
that many threw 
away their knap- 




,77s 



Ctje iFtentij SllUante 



24 



I77& 




25ettp iSojefsf l^ouiefc 

tuhcrc firjtft %\Xitx\^ 
ran flag toaj^ ma^^ 



sacks in their desire to reach the enemy. 
The British were advised of Washing- 
ton's approach, and though numbering 
seventeen thousand, were headed for the 
coast by the most direct route, their 
march fast becoming flight under the 
vexations of climate and the harassing 
attaclcs of the New Jersey militia. On 
the twenty-sixth of June they encamped 
at Monmouth Court House with Wash- 
ington but a few miles behind, and a de- 
tachment under Lee, which had been sent 
in advance, within striking distance. The 
latter, Washington ordered to attack as 
soon as the enemy should resume the 
march in the morning, promising sup- 
port as soon as he could come up. Lee, 
an Englishman who had been a source 
of trouble to Washington all through the 
war, was impressed with Clinton's in- 
vincibility, and fearing to engage him, 
contented himself with unimportant man- 
oEUvers, until Clinton, seeing his oppor- 
tunity, charged, and had started the 
Americans in retreat when Washington, 
whom the incredible news found strain- 
ing every nerve to reach the field of battle, 
galloped on the scene, and overcome with 
rage, demanded of Lee an explanation of 
his course. This Lee was unable to 
p've, and ordering him to the rear, where 
ti.e next day he was court-martialed and 



suspended from his command, Washington rall:ed the troops, that had failed wholly from 
the lack of efficient ordering, and with the arrival of the main army recovered the 
ground and drove the British in retreat. Under the cover of the night the retreat was 
kept up, and Clinton succeeded in reaching the coast and embarking before the Ameri- 
'nS cans could again come up with him. His army was reduced by two thousand, in the 
march and battle, and had it not been for the incompetence of Lee, would have been 
utterlv destroyed. As it was, he was beaten, and the campaign which Washington had 
lost at Brandy wine and Germantown, was redeemed at Monmouth. An incident of this 
battle was the bravery of Molly Pitcher, the wife of an American artilleryman. 
She was bringing water to her husband when she saw him fall, and heard an order for 
withdrawing his gun ; determined that it should not be silenced, she took his place 
and served the gun throughout the fight. In recognition of her patriotism Washington 
appointed her a sergeant in the army, where she became widely known and popular. 
During the summer of 1778 the war made little progress, so far as the main 
armies were concerned. The British were now confined to New York, with an out- 



JKonmottt^ 



(iSie0rij%»n 






'^IS^iiitfllittU' 




post at Newport, Rhode Island, and evinced little inclination for aggressive measures. 
Early in July the French fleet, under Count d'Estaing, appeared off Sandy Hook, but 
owing to their greater draught were unable to approach the British fleet. In lieu of 
this, a plan was arranged for destroying, in conjunction with a land force, the British 
garrison and ships at Newport. D'Estaing arrived there with his fleet August eighth, 
and his presence with the forces under Sullivan, Greene, and Lafayette caused 
the British to destroy their men-of-war and other vessels in the harbor. While 
preparations for the attack were being made, a British squadron appeared, and the '"^^ 
French went outside to engage it, but a very severe storm arose and scattered the 
fleets, injuring the vessels so that the British were forced to return to New York, and 
the French went to Boston, to refit. Upon this the land forces, which also suffered 
from the storm, were obliged to withdraw without accomplishing their purpose, 
though a sharp engagement took place between four thousand reinforcements, which 
Clinton had brought from New York, and a division under Green, in which the 
British were repulsed. Clinton occupied himself in ravaging the surrounding country 
and burning shipping at New Bedford, returning to New York soon afterward and 
subsequently abandoning Newport. 

One of the particularly disturbing features of the summer were the Indian 
raids, made at the instigation of British agents and participated in by many Tories. 
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Cherry Valley, New York, suffered frightfully in 
this way, hundreds of men, women, and children falling victims to the tomahawk, 
while in many instances the torture was much more severe. Further west the British 
had seized old French trading posts and garrisoned them with regulars and Indians, to 
ensure the unlimited extension of British territory when the victory should be won. 
They also sought to uproot the settlement in what is now Kentucky, but were 
tenaciously resisted by the hardy pioneers under the lead of Boone, Logan, 

Kenton, and other intrepid woodsmen. 

Among these was one who realized the 
value of the outposts that the British had 
seized, and determined that the vast terri- 
tory dominated by them should be held by 
Americans. Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and 
Cahokia, in the Illinois country, were the 




Pe nnsy Ivania 



:^(^rtoport 




CirtietD J^atifiiion @;^e tm an to ton ^ a . 

coveted settlements, and George Rogers Clark, a native of Virginia, the far-seeing 
frontiersman who set out to taice them with less than two hundred men, raised by his 
personal efforts under the authority of Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia. Over- 
coming all obstacles, they reached Kaskaskia on the evening of July fourth, and Clark 
by skillful manceuvers took the garrison completely by surprise, and overpowering the 
guards, compelled the surrender of forces two or three times greater in number than 
///-ihis own. Vincennes and Cahokia followed with little trouble, but the difficulty was 
to hold the posts with his small following, of which many of the men were anxious 
to return to their homes. At this time the British arrived with a strong force and 
retook Vincennes, but owing to the lateness of the season hesitated about attacking 
Kaskaskia, held by Clark with the main body of his command. Neither the season 
nor the condition of the country had anv terrors for Clark, and getting together one 
hundred and seventy men who could be depended upon, thev started for Vincennes 
early in February, undertaking fearlessly a journey of over two hundred miles, in which 
they experienced hardships of every kind, including hunger, and a march through miles 
of icy water, waist high, but, in spite of these, arrived at their destination on the 
twenty-second of the month, and after a short fight forced the fort to again surrender. 

The importance of this exploit was far-reaching, as it not only secured to the 
United States vast territory in the West, but it broke, from that time, the alliance 
with the Indians, which the British had created with difficulty, and upon which they 
largely depended. 

The British, from their only stronghold. New York, kept up their devastating 
raids on the surrounding country, descending early in September on Buzzards Bav, 
where they destroyed shippi.ig and privateers to the number of seventy sail, continu- 



Jttafot eiarlt^fi; iSrPfli'itdin 



5e0rj9i»n 



ing through New Bedford and Fairhaven the pillage and destruction, and finally re- 
turning to New York with a large number of cattle and sheep captured at Martha's 
Vineyard. On the thirtieth of the same month they sailed to Little Egg Harbor, 
New Jersey, where they captured a considerable quantity of American stores. 

This employment of his army, while perhaps a degree more creditable than ab- 
solute inaction, would never win for Clinton the control of America; and having '77S 
tried and failed in successive attempts to hold the Northern and Middle States, the 
British turned again to the South, as offering the only remaining opportunity for lasting 
victory. Driven out of Boston, defeated and destroyed on the Hudson, balked at 
Philadelphia, and menaced at New York, they with some reasonableness hoped, by 
gaining a foothold in a thinly populated country, where lovalism was undoubtedly 
stronger, to extend operations on a permanent basis until they could unite with the 
Northern forces. The South, unmolested since Clinton and Parker's inglorious at- 
tack on Charleston, was unprepared for resistance and was divided by party differ- 
ences that under the strain of war developed into serious civil conflict. 

To this promising field, then, Clinton turned his attention, with immediate results 
that seemed to fully justify his deductions, and warranted confidence in the success of 
his ultimate plan. A partially successful raid under General Provost came out of 
Florida and pillaged the coast towns of Georgia, but the first important move was 
against Savannah. On the twenty-ninth of December, Colonel Campbell landed 
with an army of three thousand and attacked the city, which was defended by Gen- 
eral Robert Howe with less than a thousand men, and those without experience in 
action. The British were easily victorious, and completely scattered the opposing 
force, taking some five hundred prisoners and capturing valuable stores. Following 
this. Provost returned and captured Sunbury, which had repulsed his first raid, and 
Campbell with a division of his troops advanced successfully on Augusta. Thus 
Georgia, the last to renounce the royal authority, was the first to again feel its yoke, 
the British being now in virtual possession of the State. 

General Benjamin Lincoln was sent by Congress to command the Southern de- 
partment, but met with little success. He succeeded in raising a small army, but '779 
attempting prematurely to recover Augusta and Savannah, his force was seriously re- 
duced without the attainment of his object, and he was obliged to retire to the hills 




^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ « ^ ^ ....::,, :;^x:iiis^r 



28 



'^'^'V 



with but a handful of men, leaving the British in full possession of Georgia. The 
direct results of his campaign were the gallant repulse of the British at Fort Royal by 
General Moultrie, the defeat and dispersal at Kettle Creek of a band of seven hun- 
dred Tories under Colonel Boyd, who was shot in the engagement, and the preser- 
'779 ration of Charleston, which Provost had set out to attack, but from which he was 
compelled by Lincoln's advance to withdraw. 

Encouraged by their progress in the South, the British resumed with greater 
boldness their periodic raids in the North. Under Sir George Collier and General 










Matthews they entered Hampton Roads, May ninth, ravaging Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth, and then sailed for New York, where they assisted Clinton in capturing the 
'779 unfinished fortifications at Stony Point, by which the Americans had hoped to control 
King's Ferry. An expedition had been sent against West Greenwich, Connecticut, 
the previous March, which is memorable chiefly on account of General Putnam's 
bold escape from what seemed certain capture. He had rallied a company to oppose 
the British, who were on their way to destroy the salt-works at Horse Neck, but 
was unable to offer effective resistance to the fifteen hundred invaders, and his men 
were soon dispersed. Putnam sought to reach Stamford, but was pursued by the 
British, who were fast gaining on him, when he turned his horse over the edge of a 
steep, rocky blufi^ and rode safely to the bottom, leaving his astonished pursuers 



CS^enetal J^utnam's Xlflre 



^^^^^ 


^ 4. 


: 4 









daunted and baffled at the top. An- 
other expedition, under Governor 
Tryon, left New York lor Connecticut 
early in July, and sailing along the coast 
plundered New Haven, East Haven, 
Fairfield and Norwalk, which latter 
place was also burned. 

These measures were met by the 
Americans with movements against 
Stonv Point and Verplank's Point, and 
later against the British garrison at 
Paulus Hook. These were not wholly 
retaliatory, as Washington feared from 
the capture of Stony Point the exten- 
sion of British occupation through a 
series of such posts, which would ac- 
complish all that was striven for in Bur- 
goyne's campaign, and cut off his army 
and the Southern states from the recruits 
and supplies so generously furnished by 
New England. He therefore deter- 
mined to retake the fort at once, and 
entrusted the work to General Wayne, 
one of his most intrepid aids. General 
Wayne with a few hundred men reached 
the precipitous slopes in the rear of the 
fort on the evening of July sixteenth, 
and in a dashing assault, upon which the 
heavy fire of the garrison made no im- 
pression, they mounted the breast-works and compelled a speedy surrender. Nearly 
five hundred prisoners were taken, and guns and munitions of great value captured. 
After training the guns of the fort on Verplank's Point, opposite, and compelling 
its evacuation, the Americans leveled the works and returned to the main army. 
Their achievement is looked upon as one of the most brilliant of the war. 

Paulus Hook, now the site of a part of Jersey City, was one of the strongest 
natural positions held by the British; nearly surrounded by water, it was approach- 
able only by the post road, of which it originally formed the terminus and landing 
place of the ferry from New York. Major Harry Lee undertook the capture, and 
surprised it early on the morning of August nine- 
teenth. The British had little time for resistance 
before they were overpowered by the attacking 
party, which secured upwards of one hundred 
and fifty prisoners — a number greater than that 
of the Americans — and quickly withdrew, lest 
the alarm spread to the main body of the enemy 
and retreat be cut off. 

Another undert.-.J<ing, though carefully planned 




29 



^779 



SDoortoap I^artDood 
i$ u ^ e ^ n n a p I i 18 




Mary land 



Stons? iJofnt 



(&tOTQXm\ 




^ount J|et*non 



and fitted out at great 

expense, met with dis- 

'779 ^?^J3S'*'*'*.j i -^ ^^ rSfc ^•^^' aster and utterly tailed. 

This was the expedition 
against the British post 
at Castine, near the 
mouth of the Penobscot 
River, organized in 
Massachusetts, in which 
thirty-seven vessels were 
engaged, and had en- 
tered the river, when, 
on August thirteenth, 
they were hen med in 
bv a British fleet ot su- 
perior force which sud- 
denly appeared. The Americans, rather than see their ships fall into the hands ot the 
British, beached and burned them, making their way back to Boston overland. 

The American navy, from the povertx' of national resources an incon-iderable 
power heretofore, received at this time a memorable accession in the fleet under John 
Paul Jones, fitted out at L' Orient, France, by the American and French govern- 
ments. Jones, by birth a Scotchman, had already shown high ability in the service 
of America, and when, after many tedious disappointments, he found himself in 
command of an efi^ective if not powerful fleet, he lost no time in making his presence 
felt among the shipping of Great Britain. He intercepted and captured many 
merchant vessels, in some cases boldly entering harbors to destroy them, and spread 
terror of his name throughout the British Isles. These exploits, while of importance 
in a scheme of warfare, were far from sufficient to the aggressive character of Jones, 
and he eagerly sought an encounter with armed vessels, though the conditions might 
apparently be against him. Such an opportunity came to him ofi^ Flamborough Head, 
September twenty-third, when he overtook two British ships of war, the Serapis and 
Countess of Scarborough, convoying a large fleet of merchantmen. Jones com- 
manded the Bonhomme Richard, his flagship, and had with him but two other 
'779 vessels of his squadron, the Alliance and Pallas, the others having been lost sight 
of in a gale. The British ships were greatly superior in size and armament, the 
Serapis being the larger, and a much newer and stouter vessel than the Bonhomme 
Richard, with which she engaged. The Countess of Scarborough soon struck to her 
opponents, the Alliance and Pallas, and the three remained in a group apart, leaving 
the two larger vessels to struggle for mastery. The 
battle that ensued is renowned in history as an example 
of the triumph of personal invincibility in the face ot 
apparent ruin. 

The Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis fought at 
close range until both were badly battered and pierced, 
and then, grappled together, the guns of each touching 
the other's side, they continued their fearful work of car- 
nage and destruction. On several occasions the Richard 



(jiTommotiott 
3>o1jn JJaul 3ont& 



If^ a s h i n g 1 n' s 
Coat of Arms 




oro^^n 



3t 











was reported to be 
sinking, but by ex- 
traordinary etFort 
was kept afloat, 
and at last Pear- 
son, the captain 
of the Serapis, 
yielded to his an- 
tagonist at a mo- 
ment when, as far 
as material evi- 
dence was credi- 
ble, the victory 
might well have 
been his own. 
The Alliance, 
which should have 
helped the Rich- 
ard, remained 

aloof during the greater part of the engagement, and when at last she came up, 
nearly ruined Jones's chance by firing broadsides which swept the deck of the Richard. 
This action was excused on the ground of mistaken identity, but Landais' jealousy 
of Jones and his restiveness under the latter' s superior authority, give color to a pre- 
sumption of traitorous intent, and he was soon afterwards dismissed from the navy. 
The prizes were taken to Holland, and Jones, after a short stay in Paris, where his 
achievement was enthusiastically honored, returned to America, and received the 
thanks of Congress for his eminent services. 

While Jones was receiving his vessels from France, the French fleet under D'Es- 
taing, which had been cruising in West Indian waters, suddenly returned to the 
coast and captured four British men-of-war at Savannah. The French commander 
resolved to follow up this victory by recovering the town, and sought the help of the 
militia in the undertaking. Several weeks elapsed before the South Carolinians with 
Lincoln, who came to their aid, could complete an efi^ective organization, and in this 
time the British had received reinforcements and erected formidable defences. D'Es- 
taing, chafing under the delav, demanded an immediate attack, and on October ninth, 
the allies gallantly assaulted the works and succeeded in planting the flags of America 
and France on the ramparts, but they could not maintain their position, and finally 
were repulsed with great loss. The brave Pulaski was killed in this action, as was 
Sergeant Jasper, the hero of Fort Moultrie ; and Count d'Estaing, who led his troops 
in person, was severely wounded. The French fleet put to sea, and Lincoln, with 
about two thousand men, withdrew to Charleston, where the people, desirous of pro- 
tection, urged them to remain. 

The British, encouraged bv their victory, appeared off the coast of Georgia early 
in 1780 with a fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot, bringing Clinton and eight thousand j^^^ 
men, who were placed in commanding positions about Charleston, where they were 
joined by Cornwallis with troops to the number of three thousand. General 
Lincoln, who had remained in the city, had been reinforced by a considerable body 



S a t) ti n n a t) 




Mount Tetnon 



of \'irginia veterans, but his forces could 

offer no effective resistance to an army 

mar'c--irr^^ps^ -jk^ ^- numbering four to his one. Aided by 

/7S0 ^'ltMi^Km.^^::M?z^'y'?\-:. the fleet, which ran Fort Moultrie 

without difficulty, the British instituted 
an aggressive siege which resulted in the 
capitulation of the city on May twelfth ; 
General Lincoln and all his men were 
taken prisoners. 

With the loss of the last remnant of 
Lincoln's army, organized defense was 
obliterated in the South. The British 
spread over and devastated South Caro- 
lina as they did before in Georgia, 
plundering all not avowedly loyal, and 
committing outrages calculated to embit- 
ter the patriots and strengthen them in 
their later resistance. 

A detachment of two thousand men 
under DeKalb had been sent South to 
augment the forces there, and this was 
now utilized as a nucleus of a new armv. 
As many more were soon added by 
enlistment and the accession of isolated 
bands, and Gates, in whom Congress had great confidence, based on a misconception 
of his part in the capture of Burgoyne, was sent, against the judgment of Washington, 
to take command. Under conservative leadership this army would have grown and 
developed into an effective force, but without waiting for these processes, and appar- 
ently without consideration of its weakness, Gates led it to Camden, then an import- 
ant center for the British. The despair resulting from the loss of Savannah and 
Charleston had been broken by minor though brilliant successes at Fishing Creek and 
Hanging Rock, and the patriots rallying under Marion, Sumter, and Pickens were 
harassing the British with a partisan warfare destructive of their sense of security, 
'7'" though lacking in effective organization. These leaders joined forces with Gates ; 
but they added nothing to the strength of the attack on Camden, as both Marion 
and Sumter were detached for special operations, the latter taking four hundred of 
the best troops in addition to his own. 

The British under Lord Rawdon, knowing of Gates' advance, set out to intercept 
and surprise him, and on August sixteenth, the armies came suddenly together, neither 
being aware of the proximity of the other. A battle 
was immediately ordered, and a line of militia, never 
before under fire, was marched in the first charge 
against the perfectly drilled regulars of the British. 
The natural result was, that the Americans, frightened 
by the solid fire of the enemy, broke and fled, leaving 
to DeKalb and his Continentals the whole burden ot 
resistance. The latter fought with remarkable cour- 



C&enetal (Sates 
in tlie Soutl) 



y ir I i ni a 





iSntrante 
JWount Ttrnon 



age, but they were hope- 
lessly outnumbered, and, 
after losing eight hundred 

men, including DeKalb, .•■■••i'U[f^}iTsy^h^''-J^^-^'^7^^^^trXtf^l^ 'So 

were obliged to retreat 
and save themselves as 
best they could. Sum- 
ter's detachment, which 
had captured the British 
wagon train, was over- 
taken by Tarleton and 
routed with the loss of half 
its men, killed or captured. 
The re-formed southern 
army, barely started in its 
mission, was thus effec- ""'' 

tually scattered, and once 
more the British were free ® 1 tf 

to extend their lines and 
prosecute their plan of 
northward conquest. 

This immunity was of short duration, however, the rigorous measures adopted by 
Cornwallis quickly bearing fruit in an uprising fatal to British supremacy. Wishing 
to free himself from the annoyance of local attacks, Cornwallis sent a division under 
Colonel Ferguson to range the western borders of the Carolinas and intimidate the 
inhabitants. The threats of the invaders roused the mountaineers, who had hitherto 
contented themselves with repressing Indian aggression, and gathering under favorite 
leaders, they assembled on the Watuga, late in September, to the number of nearly 
twelve hundred. They chose Colonel Campbell — leader of the Virginians — chief 
commander, and under his direction were more closely united and instructed in 
methods of attack. They were later joined bv upwards of three hundred from North 
Carolina, and started to crush the detachment under Ferguson. The British com- 
mander had word of their coming, and undertook to elude them ; but being unsuc- 
cessful in this, took up a strong position on Kings" Mountain and awaited the con- 
flict. To shorten the pursuit the backwoodsmen had divided their force, the pick of 
men and horses to the number of seven hundred entering on a forced march, leaving 
the rest to come up as they could. Riding night and day in their impatience to at- 
tain their object, the Americans arrived in the vicinity of the British camp on the ^^g^ 
morning of October seventh, and immediatelv arranged the attack. The British had 
more men, and a strong position on the top of a wooded hill ; but every man in the 
attacking force was a trained Indian fighter and thoroughly at home in such a situ- 
ation. They charged from opposite sides of the hill, and a repulse on one side was 
immediately followed by an assault on the other, thus keeping the British in constant 
motion, and gradually reducing the intervening space, until arriving at the top they 
turroundcd and overpowered the enemv, forcing unconditional surrender. Ferguson 
and fully one-third of his men were killed, and the victors secured a large store of 
arms and ammunition, the lack of which was everywhere a serious hindrance to the 
(truggling patriots. 



in0's Monniuin 




(tiaattt*» ^Tatietn ^Uranirrfa Ta. 



The tide of war thus ebbing and flowing, rose perceptibly for the Americans from 
this time, the people, encouraged by the destruction of the merciless foe that dom- 
inated the frontier, rising in scattered bands to pick ofi^ isolated British posts and even 
driving the main army to seek security nearer the sea-coast. Marion and Sumter ap- 
peared in unexpected quarters, cutting off supplies and routing loyalist militia, leading 
Tarleton hither and thither in futile attempts to reach them. He finally came up 
with Sumter at Blackstocks and was severely repulsed. The British, once more on 
the defensive, were checked in their northward march, and all that was needed to 
permanently cripple them was an organized army to which the roving bands could 
rally. This Congress undertook, for the third time, to supply ; but depleted ranks 
and bankrupt finances were conditions not lightly subjected, and Greene, whom 
Washington was privileged to appoint to this command, could obtain but little in 
material equipment, either of men or outfittings, and was obliged to depend on ap- 
peals to the Southern States, backed by recommendations of the central government. 
In some aspects Greene's expedition was in the nature of a forlorn hope. Two 
armies had been sacrificed in the same cause, exhausting the resources of the northern 
division, which could now spare but a mere body-guard to the departing general. 
Disaffection was rife in the Continental army on account of the worthlessness of the 
currency with which it was paid, and enlistments were correspondingly difficult to 
obtain. In the face of this discouraging outlook Greene went resolutely to his task, 
rousing the country as he traveled through it and importuning the governors for aid 
of any kind. His energetic measures brought him some immediate assistance, and 
more followed as he journeyed South, leaving a train of activity where apathy had 



CJtnttal ^vtcnr gocB jSotttlj 



.5 



before prevailed. He reached Charlotte, North Carolina, December second, and 
relieved Gates, who had since his defeat at Camden gathered the available militia of 
the state to the number of two thousand, to replace his lost army. These troops 
were raw and undisciplined, but with Steuben and Lee, whom Congress had assign- 
ed to the Southern department, Greene set about the work of fitting them for service, 
while they also formed a nucleus for gathering recruits. 

In appointing Greene to the command of the Southern division, Washington had 
deprived his army of a strong general, but he was content in the knowledge of the 
special fitness of Greene for the duty to which he was assigned. His notable service 
as quartermaster-general after the failure of the Board of War, and his eminent abil- 
ity in the field, were considerations that impelled Washington to urge his appoint- 
ment to this post after the destruction of Lincoln's army at Charleston; but Congress, 
enamoured of Gates, chose the latter. In the interval since that time the contrast of 



ability in the two men had become 
apparent even to Congress. While 
Gates hurried to destruction in the 
South, Greene gained fresh honors in 
New Jersey, where he checked Clin- 
ton's advance at Springfield and sent 
him in retreat to Staten Island. 

Incursions of this character were 
the extent of British activity in the 
North during the spring and summer 
of 1780. Washington had moved 
into New Jersey and driven out Knyp- 
hausen, whose force was greatly su- 
perior, before Clinton arrived from 
Charleston ; and while the latter was 
engaged in his abortive raid, the Ameri- 
can commander defended his position 
on the Hudson. His army, impover- 
ished and reduced in numbers through 
the incapacity of Congress, was re- 
inforced by the arrival at Newport, 
Rhode Island, July tenth, of a power- 
ful French fleet under Admiral Ternay, 
bringing Count de Rochambeau with 
six thousand soldiers. The strength 
of the allied forces was thus sufficient 
to imperil the British at New York, — ■ 
and their outlying posts were finally 
abandoned for the better protection of 
the larger interests. 

At the British headquarters, and 
in the heart of the American councils, 
events were making for one of the 
saddest burdens that Washington, in 






Ta. 




^tSo 



aviMtial of iFrtnclj ^Ulrs 



all the misfortunes of the Revolution, was called upon to bear. Benedict Arnold, whose 
name is now identified with treachery, was at that time one of the most valiant officers 
in the patriot army. Impetuous and ardent, he was ever at the forefront of action, and 
his self-ignoring courage inspired those about him to victorious effort in the face of 
impending disaster. He had led a starving army through the northern wilderness to 

""i" Quebec, his energetic struggle for the control of Lake Champlain had delayed by a 

-;-/ year the British advance to the Hudson and operated for its final defeat, and his re- 
surgent valor at Saratoga turned the tide of battle in favor of his cause. The elements 
of character that contributed to these worthy ends were equally potent in self-seeking 

777 baseness, when the high impulse of patriotism had given place to one of personal gain 
and revenge. The wound received by Arnold in the charge at Saratoga incapacitated 
him, temporarily, for active service, and when sufficiently recovered he was put in 

77 •. command of Philadelphia, which the British had then recently evacuated. Here lie 
married the daughter of a Tory, and formed associations that opened the way for 
later operations. Life at the capital developed the weaknesses of his nature, and he 
became involved in difficulties that brought him successively before a committee of 

-■ji) Congress and a court-martial ; the former exonerated him, but the latter, though 
acquitting him of the charges preferred, qualified the verdict by directing Washington 
to administer a formal reprimand. The harshness of this measure was greatly miti- 

aBt)tn^tou'0 ^eadquartere 
|ltct)tttond l^a* 




iWa|ot=(Kenetal Urntlfftt ^tnolir 




-So 



gated by the implied praise which 
Washington, who admired Arnold 
and believed him wronged, incor- 
porated in the rebuke; but to 
Arnold it was no less a rebuke, 
and it weighed in turning him from 
a life of honor to one of ignominy. 
Smarting under his wrong, real 
or fancied, and looking to the possi- 
bilities of personal emolument, he 
opened cautious communication 
with the British, who saw in this 
an opportunity of acquiring bv 
treachery what they could not take 
by force of arms. The American 
fort at West Point, on the Hudson, 
was coveted, and Arnold set out to 
obtain the post of commandant that 
he might work its ruin, for which 
he was to receive a large money 
consideration and a commission as *'H,'^ 
brigadier-general in the British 

army. Though Washington had J»cl)00l;I)0U6C Of . l!!anllOlpl)Sf flllD 

other plans for Arnold s employ- 

ment, such was his regard for the S C f f C tT jtf It jSf CUCHatjOt ©fl. 

man, that he deferred to the lat- 

ter's wishes, and the first requirement of the plot was effected. From possession it 
was but a step to delivery; but that step was carelessly executed by Major Andr6, 
the British emissary sent to meet Arnold and arrange the details, and while on his 
way back to the Vulture, a sloop-of-war which had brought him up the river, he 
was captured at Tarrytown and the full import of his mission discovered. John 
Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart, the vigilant rangers who seized 
Andr^, took him, in spite of liberal offers for liberty, to the American headquarters 
at Northcastle ; and a few davs later he was hanged at Tappan, after having confessed 
to being a spy, and notwithstanding strenuous efforts on the part of Clinton to save 
his officer's life. Through a blunder of the officers to whom Andr6 was delivered, 
Arnold was notified of the failure of his conspiracy and succeeded in escaping to 
the British on the day, September twenty-fifth, that the surrender was to have ,yS(, 
taken place. 

To Washington, who arrived unexpectedly at West Point on the morning of 
Arnold's flight, the moral disappointment was particularly severe. Arnold was a 
valuable officer, but the gap which he left could, in a way, be filled. The real 
calamity was the shaken confidence in human integrity engendered by the perfidy of 
one so highly esteemed, and who owed so much to the kindly consideration of his 
superior. It opened unconsidered possibilities of defeat, and such was the improba- 
bility in Arnold's case that no limit could be set to unwelcome suspicion. Happily 
no further cause for such existed, and the treason of Arnold remains the one blot on 
the record of patriotism. 



tnoU's 2rt(a(])(rs 



nSi 










4-- --«> -s^ 






( 19 t ^ r t 






In the North the year 1780 closed as it had passed, without important aggression 
by either side. To Washington, in his quarters in New Jersey, the outlook was 
cheerless in the extreme. All the old familiar besetments of failing men and scant 
supplies harassed him with stubborn persistence. As an executive body Congress 
was a failure, and Washington's strenuous entreaties were received with indifference 
and apathy. The lack of funds was the most serious difficulty, and after its own 
conspicuous failure in this field, Congress, with unusual discernment, shifted the 
burden to an individual of large means and earnest patriotism, by appointing Robert 
Morris, of Philadelphia, to be Superintendent of Finances. In the earlv days of the 
war, Morris had answered Washington's appeal with fifty thousand dollars raised on 
his personal credit, and, though the task was one that 'i^w men would have cared to 
undertake and fewer still have succeeded in, he now applied his ripe business ability 
to the problem, and with the cooperation of Gouverneur Morris, of New York, 
established a bank and raised the credit of the government on the strength of his own 
acceptance of the trust. The money thus available was of immense assistance to 
Washington, enabling him to recoup his army at a most critical time, when, as later 
developments proved, unreadiness would have been fatal. 

Benedict Arnold, with his commission from King George, had been sent to ravage 
Virginia, and with Cornwallis and Tarleton in the Carolinas, the importance of the 
British strength in the South was clearly apparent to the American commander. He 
dispatched Lafayette with twelve hundred men to meet Arnold, who was burning and 



Motert iHorrfs 



pillaging with the energy that had been characteristic of his worthy efforts. Early 
in March, Lafayette reached Annapolis, at which place he was to join the French 
fleet which had been sent from Newport to convoy him to Portsmouth, where 
Arnold was entrenched. The plan was frustrated by the appearance of a British 
fleet under Arbuthnot near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, and as a result of the 
ensuing action the French were obliged to return to Rhode Island, leaving Lafayette 
without the means of reaching Arnold. Clinton, though yet with no plan beyond 
disconnected raids, sent General Phillips with two thousand men to join Arnold, 
whom the former was to relieve of command. His mission thus rendered hopeless, 
Lafayette was ordered to join Greene, who was beginning to make his presence felt 
in the farther South. 

One of the typical figures of the war was Daniel Morgan of Virginia. Born to 
humble station, he served as private in the early Indian wars, and at the outbreak of 
the Revolution raised a regiment of Virginia riflemen and hurried to the front. 
His men formed an important part of the expedition to Quebec and were prominent 
in many later actions, notably at Saratoga, where they won the praise of the enemy. 
Morgan had not received the recognition his achievements merited and had with- 
drawn to his Virginia plantation, when Gates's defeat at Camden revealed the desper- 
ate situation of the cause in the South. Repressing personal considerations, he made 
haste to join Gates, and soon received from Congress a commission as brigadier-general. 
He was engaged in organizing his troops when Greene arrived, and with the approval 
of the latter he moved to the westward, and gathering the militia, stopped the ravages 
of loyalists in that section. Cornwallis 

watched with apprehension Morgan's ,,«, ^ •»>% ^ *»t\ 
growing power, and sent Tarleton, with 'i^i^tC PO^t lOC^tOtoCr 
his light infantry, to check his operations. 
Morgan retreated before him until he 
reached a favorable position at Cowpens 
— on the boundary between North and 
South Carolina — where he established 
himself, and instructing and encouraging 
his men, he waited in battle order for the 
British to come up. They arrived on 
the seventeenth of January and dashed 
upon the Americans with an impetuosity 
calculated to break the ranks of the lat- 
ter; but they were prepared for this and 
met the assault boldly, changing forma- 
tion to bring fresh troops to the front, 
and then by a partial retreat led the British 
forward, enabling a division under Colo- 
nel Washington to attack them in the 
rear. Met by fire before and behind, 
the enemy soon succumbed in uncondi- 
tional surrender. Tarleton himself es- 
caped, but upwards of six hundred of 
his men fell into the hands of the Ameri- 




f^Sr 



fjSt 



or0an»s Tictovi? at (j^otoptne 





cans, with all the arms 
and baggage of the com- 
mand. Morgan's victory 
was a brilliant one, his 
force being inferior to 
that of his adversary, and 
was largely the result of 
clear judgment and care- 
ful planning, backed by 
experienced troops. 

Although Tarleton's 
command was destroyed, 
it was dangerous for Mor- 
gan to remain within 
reach of Cornwallis, who 
was sure to retaliate for 
the loss of his favorite 
regiment; and as soon as 
the battle was over a rapid 
retreat was begun, which, 
before the next morning, had carried the Americans well beyond the Broad 
River. Events proved the wisdom of this course, and the advantage thus gained 
■'' ' barely sufficed to save them from the pursuing army, which was lightened by burning 
its heavy baggage, that the chase might be unimpeded. Greene also realized the 
importance of outwitting Cornwallis, and on learning of the victory started at once 
to join Morgan, at the same time sending messengers ahead to gather boats at all the 
rivers on the line of march, that everything might be in readiness when the troops 
arrived. Without this foresight all the strenuous efforts of Morgan would have come 
to naught, as successively at the Catawba and the Yadkin the Americans had only 
the river between them and their pursuers. 

Greene's army, following close upon its general, joined Morgan's division at 
Guilford, the ninth of February, and together they continued the flight to the Dan, 
where Kosciuszko, sent ahead by Greene, was preparing defences. The British 
were so close behind that it was only by employing a rear guard to engage them in 
skirmishes that the Americans succeeded in crossing the river ; when this was safelv 
accomplished the skirmishing party followed rapidly, leaving the enemy baffled at the 
bank. The British had no boats, and as it was out of the question to ford under 
the fire of the Americans, they withdrew and gave up the chase. 

Greene soon returned to the country south of the Dan, and tor some weeks har- 
rassed Cornwallis by raids on outlying divisions, and by intercepting his recruits and 
supplies. Every attempt to reach the Americans was frustrated bv a rapid change of 
position, and after seriously fatiguing his army to no purpose, Cornwallis withdrew 
to rest his men and seek recruits. This gave Greene a like opportunity, and the 
militia, for which his aides had scoured the neighboring states while the British were 
being held in check, began to arrive in appreciable force. When sufficiently strength- 
ened, Greene, who saw the necessity of a battle which should cripple his adversary, 
even though himself obliged to retreat, marched to Guilford Court House, which he 



^otgan^s Xlettreat 



had selected as an advantageous position. The next day, March fifteenth, the British 
accepted the challenge and boldly opened the attack. Greene's forces, which number- 
ed somewhat over four thousand, were largely untrained militia, and at the first 
charge of the enemy, the firing line, thus constituted, broke and fled without ofFc-ing 
any effective resistance. The Continentals, who were next behind, fought with 
steady regularity and twice repulsed the British, who only saved the day by the reck- 
less use of artillery fired through their own ranks. Greene withdrew in good order, 
but minus a large part of the militia, which failed to return after the first rout. 

Cornwallis, who lost in the neighborhood of six hundred men, took up his march to 
Wilmington to refit before coming northward. Greene immediately followed him, 
although defeated and with his force reduced by desertion — his loss in battle being less /7<?/ 
than a third that of the British; but he was compelled by the continued desertion of 
militia to abandon the pursuit at the Deep River when almost up with the enemy. 

With the British forces divided, as they were by Cornwallis' s expedition to Virginia, 
it became necessary for Greene to choose between following the former to the North, 
and the alternative of moving against Lord Rawdon, who held Camden and a chain 
of fortified posts in South Carolina. He chose the latter plan, and quickly with- 
drawing from the vicinity of Cornwallis, that the latter might not detect his purpose in 
time to obstruct his movement, he marched for Camden, April second, and arrived that 
night at Hobkirk's Hill, within a short distance <>f he enemy's works. Rawdon, think- 
ing to surprise Greene, whom he knew to be a^ jet without artillery, led an attack early 
on the morning of April 
seventh, and succeeded 
in dislodging the Ameri- 
cans. Greene was sur- 
prised, hut not unpre- 
pared, as he had camped 
his army in battle form to 
guard against this possi- 
bility. The struggle was 
sharp, and for some time 
the advantage appeared 
to be with the Ameri- 
cans, but at a critical 



moment one of those 
unnecessary weakenings, 
which had turned the 
scale against them on 
many other occasions, 
broke the formation, and 
seeing the inevitable re- 
sult, Greene withdrew 
his men while yet pos- 
sible to do so without 
sacrifice. 

Reinforcements 
reached Rawdon a few 




t s t i) t V 



^vttnt*^ &ai}f|iaf0tf 



(5t0 



weeks later, in spite of Lee and Marion, who, at the first inception of the plan, had 
been sent to cut off his supplies. With this added force, Rawdon started out early 
in May to reach, by a detour, a position in Greene's rear, which he hoped to find 
unguarded. The sagacious general was not to be caught in such a simple manner, 
however, and changed his position for one so strong that the British feared to attack. 
Unable to dislodge Greene, and threatened by the latter's outlying divisions, which 
had already taken Fort Watson, one of his important posts, Rawdon abandoned 
Camden, May tenth, and moved to the sea-coast. On his way he hoped to 
strengthen the garrison at Fort Motte, but he was too late, and arrived May twelfth, 
^ySj just in time to witness its surrender. Sumter had taken Orangeburg the day before. 
and Neilson's Ferry and Fort Granby fell within a few days. Lee and Pickens 
with their divisions entered Georgia and captured Fort Galphin, May twenty-first, 
reaching Augusta, their objective point, a few hours later. Here they met deter- 
mined resistance. The two forts, Grierson and Cornwallis, were besieged, and 
the former, which was the weaker, was soon taken by Pickens, enabling him to go 
to the assistance of Lee, whose operations had so far had little effect on the strong 
garrison of Fort Cornwallis, which fought gallantly and held out with stubborn 
tenacity. The Americans were no less determined, however, and gradually weak- 
ening the defense by daily engagements, they finally assaulted the fort on June fifth, 
and forced its surrender. 

One of the strongest British posts in the South, and after the fall of Augusta the 
only one in that section remaining in their control, was Ninety-Six, Georgia. To 
this Greene directed his attention after recuperating his army, and opened systematic 




iFatmCngton, (iltiatlotttfiitiiUt Ta. 
Sumter, Utt antf ufcftens 



Designed by 
Thomas Je/fe 




Desismd by Sir C li r i s t o p h i- r Wren 

siege operations, which, with the help of Lee, who had joined him after the victory 
of Augusta, had reduced the strong garrison to a point where surrender could not be 
long delayed, when the Americans received word of the approach of Lord Rawdon, 
who had again left the seaboard to come to the relief of the besieged post. Greene, '7^' 
who was too weak to cope with such a force, reluctantly withdrew and led Rawdon 
a futile chase from point to point, until the latter, unable to disperse the Americans, 
and fearing to remain in the position he had come so far to sustain, withdrew from 
Ninety-Six, taking the garrison and loyalists, and returned finally to the coast. 
Thus the purpose of Greene's campaign, apparently frustrated, was accomplished by 
the force of conditions his earlier work had created. 

Detachments of the American troops followed the retreating British to the out- 
skirts of Charleston, harassing them and preventing scattered raids and pillage. They 
also, as a result of engagements with outlying commands, captured upwards of one 
hundred and fifty prisoners, among whom were a number of officers. 

Lord Rawdon embarked for England early in Julv, and his successor, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Stewart, undertook to reoccupy the country from which Rawdon had been 
driven. He started, late in August, with between two and three thousand men, and 
camped on the Santee near Fort Motte. Greene, who was encamped in the neigh- 
boring hills, had rested and strengthened his army, and he set out on receipt of in- 



X(netff = «fr iSDacuated 



44 



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©voflan IJlatc Hotusit ^roiir lij>. 



formation of 
Stewart's move- 
ments, to inter- 
cept the latter 
and at the same 
time to assail his 
communications 
by detachments 
in his rear. This 
plan was so suc- 
cessful that the 
British were 
obliged to with- 
draw to Eutaw 
Springs, some 
twenty miles 
down the river. 
Here they se- 
lected a strong 

position and awaited the Americans, who reached that vicinity September seventh, but 
were undiscovered until the morning of the eighth, a short time before they wxre ready 
to attack. The armies were evenly matched, and although the Americans pressed 
steadily forward and easily destroyed the enemy's outer lines, the resistance was able and 
determined, and for a while seemed sufficient to hold the ground. At this point 
Greene's superior tactics prevailed, and the Continentals, being formed in to replace 
the exhausted militia, which had so far borne bravely the brunt ot the battle, charged 
'jSi the British before they had time to recover from the fire of the militia, and pene- 
trating their line, drove them in disorder to the shelter of a brick building about 
which the camp was set. Unfortunately the victors were over-confident of suc- 
cess and scattered in search of plunder, with the result that the British were enabled 
to gather sufficient strength to render the final outcome doubtful, and Greene, bit- 
terly disappointed, yet ever watchful of the safetv of his army, felt compelled to 
withdraw and trust to the severitv of the blow he had inflicted to force the enemy 
to retreat. He took with him five hundred prisoners, making the British loss, with 
those left on the field, nearly a thousand; which, as was anticipated, decided Stewart 
to return to the coast, where the protection of the British ships formed their only 
stronghold. As before, detachments under Marion and Lee followed and harassed 
the retreating armv, which, to be less encumbered, destroyed large quantities of 
stores, and left behind more than a thousand stands of arms. Greene retired, 
according to his custom, to gather reinforcements, and later moved to the vicinity of 
Charleston, where his presence served to restrain the British and check their raids on 
the surrounding country; but his work was practically done, and the South, the most 
cruelly devastated section of the Union, was, with the exception of a few points on 
the coast, freed from British dominion. 

Simultaneously with these victories in South Carolina came the master-stroke of 
the Revolution, — the operations about Yorktown which led to the surrender of Corn- 
wallis. The successive raids into Virginia had attracted attention to that quarter, 



iStttatD ^tit{n00 



(Storjsiun 



but the expedition under Phillips that added two thousand men to Arnold's already 
strong force, and Cornwallis's approach from the South, gave to the situation there 
an importance not hitherto possessed. 

Washington, in his survey of existing conditions, realized the necessity of a decisive 
engagement that should successfully terminate the Revolution, which otherwise stood 
in grave danger of dissolution as a result of the apathy and incompetence of Congress, 
and the failure of the states not directly menaced, to continue the much-needed 
supplies of money and men. To this end he sought the cooperation of Rochambeau 
and his French troops, and the fleet under De Barras, recently arrived at Newport. 
The choice lay between New York and Yorktown, at either of which places the 
ships could cooperate with the land forces, an essential condition to the complete 
victory that Washington desired to ensure. His preference at first was for New 
York as offering the greater opportunity, and early in July a combined attack was '7^' 
made on the forts at the upper end of Manhattan. The attempt was fruitless as to 
its main issue, but it served to alarm Clinton, and caused him to withdraw further 
aid from Cornwallis ; it also served as a feint and enabled Washington to make un- 
suspected preparations for carrying out the alternative plan, to attack the forces now 
combined and entrenched at Yorktown. This plan gained opportune encouragement 
by the receipt of assurance of cooperation from Count De Grasse, who was on his 
way from the West Indies with another and larger fleet. 

Lafavette, whom Cornwallis unsuccessfully endeavored to isolate, had been joined 
by Wayne with his command, and together they had driven the British from the interior, 
engaging them at Williamsburgand Green Spring, and 
held them at bay at Yorktown. Neither Cornwallis 
nor Clinton had any idea that Washington would 
abandon New York with his main army, and this, 
with the operations already attempted, and the elabor- 
ate preparations made by the latter with the appar- 
ent purpose of continuing on the same lines, enabled 
the allied armies to slip away, leaving only a detach- 
ment to hold the British to Manhattan, and get 
well out of reach before Clinton discovered their 
absence. When he became aware of the move- 
ment he vainly endeavored to divert them from 
their purpose by sending Arnold, who had been un- 
appreciatively ordered north by Cornwallis, into 
Connecticut to ravage and excite the country. Forts 
Trumbull and Griswold, near New London, were 
taken, and at the latter. Colonel Ledyard and nearly 
a hundred of his men were murdered, after having 
surrendered in good faith. New London was burned 
to complete the wanton destruction. 

The armies under Washington crossed the Hud- 
son August nineteenth, and marching through Phila- 
delphia, arrived September eighth at the head of 
Chesapeake Bay, where they gathered transports 
and awaited the French fleet. De Grasse had 



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arrived at the entrance to 
the Chesapeake and was 
landing troops sent to re- 
inforce Rochambeau, when 
a British fleet under Ad- 
miral Graves appeared oiF 
the capes, and the French 
at once went out to meet 
it. The ensuing action, 
while not eminently de- 
cisive, was severely felt by 
the British, who lost one 
ship and were obliged to 

|;w:.:.;.- ■■•■ " :>'Ml»-®$-0^''^hrJMWM-'^M ^^ll north to refit. On his 

&&«-;■. --«- ^-''\/^^WlMilffl« return, De Grasse found 

awaiting him the squad- 
ron under De Barras, who 
had eluded the English fleet 
sent to intercept him, and 
arrived safely with trans- 
ports and siege tools, and together they proceeded up the bay and brought down 
the troops, which were landed at Williamsburg, September twenty-sixth. Joined 
by Lafayette and the French reinforcements, the combined armies, numbering in 
the neighborhood of sixteen thousand men, took up positions about Yorktown, Sep- 
tember twenty-eighth, and laid down the first lines of the siege. 

With the river, against which the town was set, and Gloucester Point, opposite, 
in the hands of the enemy, Yorktown was ill-adapted to successful defense, and 
Cornwallis soon found himself surrounded with steadily approaching armies. His 
first position was in trenches outside the town, but he was soon obliged to withdraw 
to the inner fortifications, while the besiegers occupied his abandoned works. Day 
by day the lines contracted and the heavy guns battered the defenses with steady ef- 
fectiveness. October fourteenth two outlying redoubts were taken, one by the 
Americans and one by the French, and Cornwallis, realizing the desperateness of his 
situation, resolved to stake all on an attempt to escape by the river. On the night of 
the sixteenth he embarked a detachment of his men which reached the opposite bank 
in safety, but the sudden advent of a storm frustrated his plan, and the troops already 
over were with difficulty brought back the following day. 

His last hope gone, Cornwallis sought terms of surrender, and on the eighteenth 
the articles were signed. The next dav eight thousand men laid down their arms to 
the Americans, and the British ships with a thousand more were delivered to the 
French. The ceremony was very imposing, the conquered armv assuming all the 
dignity permitted by the articles of surrender. Cornwallis remained in his quarters 
under plea of sickness, presenting his apologies to Washington through General 
O'Hara, who also delivered the British commander's sword to General Lincoln, 
whom Washington, as a slight recompense for the former's like humiliation at Char- 
lestuii, had appointed to receive it. 

I'he careful plan had been wrought out, the overwhelming blow had been struck; 



<iS.ovn\uailin auvvtnXttva 



<Se0rj9i»n 




and although it could not be immediately known, the end of the Revolution had 
come. To Washington there yet appeared much need of continued effort, and great 
exertion was required on his part to prevent an easy relaxation after such a notable 
victory. King George was still insistent for war, and the British still held New York 
and Charleston. 

Further reinforcements were sent to Greene, who continued to watch Stewart at 
the latter place, and Washington withdrew his army to the highlands of the Hudson. 
Clinton, with late awakening to the danger of Cornwallis's position, had started with 
a relief expedition and arrived at the entrance to the Chesapeake five days after the 
surrender. He immediately returned to New York, where the winter was quietly 
spent, and in the spring was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, whose appointment 
marked the accession of the peace party in Parliament, and whose mission was as 
much diplomatic as belligerent. 

Washington's fear of further aggression and his appeals for continued vigilance, 
while justified by considerations of ordinary caution, and the unchanged attitude of 
King George, were happily unfounded, and events slowly but inevitably forwarded 
the termination of the war. 

In England, irresistible surgings of public opinion were steadily decreasing the bal- ,^5^ 
ance of power held by the King and his party, and by the first of March following 
the surrender at Yorktown they were reduced to a minority. King George, whose 
every measure in the history of the war had been too late for its opportunity, still 
clung to the hope of crushing the rebels, but he was practically alone, and before the 
month had passed. Lord North, his prime minister, was forced by the opposition in 
Parliament to dissolve his cabinet and resign the government to the Whigs. Rock- 
ingham came in at the head of the dominant party, 
but he was broken in health and died soon after, his 
place being taken by Lord Shelburne, then secre- 
tary of state. 

Franklin, to whose victoriesof diplomacy America's 
standing abroad was chiefly due, had already opened 
negotiations with Shelburne; and with Richard Oswald, 
the latter' s agent, had drafted at Paris the terms of 
peace. After much diplomatic contention, in which 




\orth Carolina 



STiir i5n» of tilt smat 



Church 







Franklin was joined by John Adams, Henry 
178* J Laurens, and John Jay; and Oswald by Henry 

Strachey, the preliminary articles were signed the 
thirtieth of November. It was nearly a vear 
later, September twenty-third, 1783, when the 
final treaty was signed, but the work was done 
when the first draft was agreed to, and this country 
is indebted to the keenness and ability of its rep- 
resentatives, especially to 
Franklin, for much more 
advantageous terms than 
could reasonably have 
been expected. 

The troubles of the 
embryo nation having 
diminished with regard to 
England, the looseness 
and insufficiency of the 
central government be- 
came alarmingly apparent, 
and the army, the only 
real power, from being 
the instrument of liberty, 
threatened oppression of another form. All through the war the inability of Congress to 
provide for the army had been an almost paralyzing difficulty, but in one way or another 
Washington had been able to bridge this condition and maintain an effective organi- 
zation. With the war ended and the urgency of action less apparent. Congress was 
at the point of abandoning the soldier with no provision for arrears of pay, and no as- 
surance of even remote recompense for the hardships endured and the battles won. 
'7^3 The disaffection thus engendered permeated the entire army and needed but the lead- 
ership of an active spirit to rise to organized revolt. This leader was at hand in the 
person of Major John Armstrong, and through him the grievances of officers and men 
were declared in the form of a written address, in which the army was called upon to 
rise in its power and assume the government. Early in the previous year a some- 
rjSz what similar movement had resulted in a proposition to crown Washington and de- 
clare him king ; but though touched by this evidence of devotion, his high character 
was proof against all allurement, and he unhesitatingly rejected the offer, denouncing 
the principle, and pointing out the priceless benefits of the liberty for which they had 
fought. This later and more determined demonstration called for more decisive ac- 
tion, as it was approved by the general body of officers, and a day appointed for in- 
augurating the plan. 

Filled with grief, alike for the necessities of his men and the danger of the nation, 
Washington rebuked the movement in general orders, and then, calling his officers to 
'7Sj meet him, he reviewed the seriousness of the step contemplated, and with deep 
emotion appealed to them to stand by him and their country, trusting to the final 
triumph of justice and the righting of their wrongs. Promising his continued efforts 
in their behalf, the general withdrew, and the officers, yielding to his entreaties. 



)^n0urr((tion twminent 



(StCfrjjian 



^tWmxit^ SoodeCrceUKC 





rySz 



•7^3 



formally resolved against 
the uprising. Alarmed 
bv the imminence of this 
peril. Congress was stirred 
to action, and by partial 
payment, and land war- 
rants, succeeded in paci- 
fying the troops, prepara- 
tory to disbandment. 

Wayne, whom Greene 
had sent, soon after his 
arrival from Yorktown, to 
operate in Georgia, drove 
the British out of Savan- 
nah the following July, and on the fourteenth of December the same year, two 
weeks after the preliminary treaty was signed at Paris, they evacuated Charleston. 
New York was now the onlv port held, and Carleton occupied that uneventfully 
during the following year, until the signing of the final treaty, September twenty-third, 
was announced. He departed in state, November twenty-fitth, and as the British 
marched to their boats, Washington, with Governor Clinton, entered from the north 
and took possession. By this final act the United States were freed from British sover- 
eignty, and the independence declared in I 776 was accomplished before the world. 

His work finished, Washington called his officers about him, and bade them fare- 
well with the simple dignity that had characterized his communion with them, but 
with deep emotion and fervent wishes for their future prosperity. In silence and in 
tears he embraced each one, and then, departing, made his way to the ferry, followed 
by the company, and, entering his barge, he raised his hat in final salute and began his 
homeward journey. What the Revolution could have been without Washington, is 
difficult to imagine. Through it all he stands preeminent, and continued study of 
his life serves but to further impress his greatness. To the wisdom and courage that 
planned his operations and effected them, were added nobleness and virtue that bound 
his army to him in bonds of love, that held when duty was forgotten. 

George HI, to whose unwise activity the independence of the United States is 
due, was, with all his deficiencies in statecraft, an honest and patriotic ruler. Sur- 
rounded by scheming and intriguing politicians, with only here and there a straight- 
forward leader, it is little wonder that he became irretrievably committed to a policy 
in which there was, from his point of view, room for honest belief, and which his 
fawning courtiers were ever ready to extol. A complicated and disproportionate 

system of representation placed undue power 
in the hands of a few, while the great body of 
the people was very inadequately represented. 
These conditions, in times so degenerate, made 
it impossible for the King to gain his ends ex- 
cept by barter and intrigue, and we find him 
often the distracted victim of unfriendly and 
exacting cliques whose temporary strength 
forces recognition. 

South Carolina 

Xtto ¥ovtt rtjatuattti 



^^tOT&it 



yvv»- 



Believing fully in his divine right to govern, with every sentiment of hereditary 
prejudice outraged by the resistance of the colonists, King George, in his policy of 
subjection, was at least true to his natural instincts, for which we must allow while 
condemning the vindictive and oppressive measures resulting from it. Strong and 
unrelenting as was his enmity in war, his right-heartedness is evidenced by the 
equal sincerity of his friendliness when finallv he realized the failure of his cause ; 
his prayer to this end expressed before Parliament, when, with emotion, he 
acknowledged England's defeat, that "religion, language, interest and affection 
might prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries," is a worthy 
tribute of magnanimity, but it has been tardy of fulfillment, and the century 
now closing has, from the beginning, witnessed strife, and jealousy, and unworthy 
suspicion. 

Recent events, however, have clearly revealed the underlying kinship and natural 
sympathy of the two nations, and notwithstanding the contention which must result 
from the conscientious discharge of dutv by representatives of these governments, 
a warmer friendship is assured, which it is hoped will ultimately realize the contrite 
benediction of King George III. 




Georgia 




(georjQii^n 



ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES A FEW OF THE SMALLER 
PIECES OF THE GEORGIAN PATTERN ARE REPRESENTED. 
IT IS MADE IN STERLING SILVER ONLY (925-1000 FINE) 
AND INCLUDES EVERY ARTICLE OF TABLE FLAT WARE. 
A CATALOGUE FULLY ILLUSTRATING THIS LINE 
MAY BE HAD FROM LEADING JEWELERS, OR WILL 
BE MAILED TO ANY ADDRESS ON REQUEST. 



IN adopting the Georgian Style as a motive for this 
design, we recognize the wide and still growing appre- 
ciation of every manifestation of colonial architecture. 
While this style is more nearly indigenous than any other 
that the changing tastes of recent years have approved, — its 
precedent being identified with so much that is vital in the 
early history of our country, and its characteristics so 
amenable to existing conditions, — we must remember that 
plans and fittings were first brought from England, where, 
early in the reign of George III, the reproduction of 
classical designs became fashionable. 

Inigo lones and Sir Christopher Wren had long before 
revived and adapted the teachings of Palladio and other 
Italian masters, and their influence prepared the way for 
popular acceptance of the promulgations of James Stewart, 
who returned, in 1762, from extended residence and study 
in Greece. The first fruits of the application of a style 
developed by the needs of public and religious life in a mild 
climate, to the domestic requirements of England, were 
absurd in the extreme; but a growing recognition of its 
limitations evolved the charming if not pure style with 
which we are familiar. 

In the search for novelty its merits were for many years 
overlooked; but gradually the beauty of the old work has 
become apparent, and there is every reason to believe that 
the favor in which this style is now established will be 
lasting. 



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